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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



®ur Hmertcan IboliOa^s 



INDEPENDENCE DAY 



©ur Bmerfcan "toollDa^s 



INDEPENDENCE 
DAY 



ITS CELEBRATION, SPIRIT, AND SIGNIFICANCE 
AS RELATED IN PROSE AND VERSE 



EDITED BY 

ROBERT HAVEN SCHAUFFLER 




NEW YORK 

MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 

191Z 



iJ^I'<-C,' ^s) 



Copyright, 1912, by 

MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 

New York 



Published, February, igi2 



i 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface 7 

Note 9 

Introduction . ii 



r 

CELEBRATION 

The Great American Holiday .... Anonymous 21 

The Nation's Birthday .... Mary E. Vandyne 22 
How the Fourth of July Should Be Celebrated 

Julia Ward Howe 24 



II 

SPIRIT AND SIGNIFICANCE 

England and America James Bryce 39 

The Birthday of the Nation . . . Daniel Webster 40 

The Fourth of July . . . Charles Leonard Moore 42 

Lift Up Your Hearts Anonymous 42 

England and the Fourth of July . . . W. T. Stead 46 

Some Early Independence Day Addresses 47 

The Fourth of July Charles Sprague 53 

Our National Anniversary A. H. Rice 54 

America's Natal Day .... James Gillespie Blaine 55 

Crises of Nations Dr. Foss 56 

The Fourth of July in Westminster Abbey 

Phillips Brooks 56 



CONTENTS 

III 
BEFORE THE DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE 

PAGE 

America Resents British Dictation 

Henry B. Carrington 6i 

Speech of James Otis 62 

Independence a Solemn Duty 64 

An Appeal for America William Pitt 66 

Conciliation or War 69 

" War is Actually Begun " . . . . Patrick Henry y2 
Emancipation from British Dependence 

Philip Freneaii y6 



IV 

THE DECLARATION 

The Origin of the Declaration . Sydney George Fisher 81 

The Declaration of Independence . . John D. Long loi 

The Signing of the Declaration . . George Lippard 104 

Supposed Speech of John Adams . . Daniel Webster 107 

The Liberty Bell J. T. Headley iii 

Independence Bell, Philadelphia . . . Anonymous 112 

The Declaration of Independence 115 

Independence Explained Samuel Adams 121 

The Dignity of Our Nation's Founders 

William T. Evarts 123 
The Character of the Declaration of Independence 

George Bancroft 125 

The Declaration of Independence . Henry T. Randall 126 
The Declaration of Independence 

John Qiiincy Adams 127 

The Declaration of Independence . . Tudor Jcnks 128 
The Declaration of Independence in the Light of 

Modern Criticism Moses Coit Tyler 132 



CONTENTS 

V 

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 

PAGE 

The Principles of the Revolution 157 

The Song of the Cannon .... Sam Walter Foss 158 

Paul Revere's Ride . . Henry IVadsworth Longfellow 160 

Hymn Ralph Waldo Emerson 164 

A Song for Lexington .... Robert Kelly Weeks 165 

The Revolutionary Alarm .... George Bancroft 166 

The Volunteer Eldridge Jefferson Cutler 168 

Ticonderoga V. B. Wilson 169 

Warren's Address John Pierpont 171 

" The Lonely Bugle Grieves " . . Grenville Mellen 172 

The Battle of Bunker Hill 173 

The Maryland Battalion . Johyi Williamson Palmer 175 

The Battle of Trenton Anonymous 177 

Columbia Timothy Dwight 178 

The Fighting Parson .... Henry Ames Blood 180 

The. Saratoga Lesson . . . George William Curtis 184 

The Surrender of Burgoyne . James Watts De Peyster 187 

The Saratoga Monument Begun . Horatio Seymour 187 

Molly Maguire at Monmouth . . . William Collins 190 

The South in the Revolution . Robert Young Hayne 193 

The Song of Marion's Men . William Cullen Bryant 195 

Our Country Saved .... James Russell Lowell 197 

New England and Virginia . Robert Charles Winthrop 199 



VI 

SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 

America S. F. Smith 203 

The Republic .... Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 205 

The Antiquity of Freedom . . William Cullen Bryant 206 

America William Cullen Bryant 208 

Ode Ralph Waldo Emerson 210 

America First Anonymous 212 

Liberty for All William Lloyd Garrison 213 

Hymn Anonymous 214 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Dawning Future . . JJ^illiam Preston Johnson 216 

Liberty 216 

Freedom 217 

A Rhapsody Cassius Marcellus Clay 219 

Columbia Frederick Lawrence Knozvles 221 

A Renaissance of Patriotism . . George J. Manson 222 

Centennial Poems .... John Greenleaf Whittier 230 

Welcome to the Nation . . Oliver Wendell Holmes 232 

Liberty's Latest Daughter .... Bayard Taylor 233 

" Scum of the Earth " . . Robert Haven SchauMer 234 
Liberty and Union One and Inseparable 

Daniel Webster 238 

Address to Liberty William Cowper 240 

The Torch of Liberty Thomas Moore 241 

HoROLOGUE of Liberty Ationymons 242 

The American Republic .... George Bancroft 243 

A New National Hymn . Francis Marion Crawford 244 

VII 

FICTION 

Jim's Aunt Frances Bent Dillingham 249 

VIII 

THE NEW FOURTH 

Our Barbarous Fourth .... Mrs. Isaac L. Rice 265 
A Safe and Sane Fourth of July 

Henry Litchfield West 285 
The New Independence Day 

Henry B. F. MacFarland and Richard B. Waltrous 296 

New Fourths for Old Mrs. Isaac L. Rice 299 

Americanizing the Foukth . Robert Haven SchauMer 307 



PREFACE 

This book is an anthology of American Inde- 
pendence: of the document that announced its 
birth; of the struggle that established it in life; and 
of the patriotism that was to it both sire and son. 
It aims to present a clear review of the origin, spirit 
and significance of Independence Day and of its 
celebration both by the now discredited methods of 
brutal, meaningless noise and indiscriminate car- 
nage, which disgraced the larger part of the previ- 
ous century, and by the recent methods of sane and 
safe, reverent and meaningful celebration. 

The volume contains a selection of the best prose 
and verse that bears in any way on our nation's 
birthday; and closes with many constructive sug- 
gestions for the celebration of our new, more beau- 
tiful and more patriotic Fourth. 



NOTE 

Thanks are due to Miss Jessie Welles, superintend- 
ent of circulation in the Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, 
for the suggestion which originated " Our American 
Holidays." And gratitude is also expressed to the 
Misses Tobey, to Miss Helen Miles and all the other 
librarians of the Bloomingdale Branch Library in 
New York who have generously given the editor such 
invaluable aid in the preparation of these volumes. 

The Editor also wishes to acknowledge his indebt- 
edness to Houghton, Mifflin & Company ; The Cen- 
tury Co. ; J. B. Lippincott & Co. ; Bobbs-Merrill Co., 
and others who have very kindly granted permission 
to reprint selections from works bearing their copy- 
right. 

Robert Haven Schauffler. 



INTRODUCTION 

When, on the fourth day of each July, Americans 
keep the birthday of the nation we celebrate as our 
greatest secular holiday, the one which has the honor 
of being sanctioned by statute in every state of the 
Union. 

From times as early as any living memory can reach, 
this anniversary has been observed in much the same 
fashion : by spread-eagle oratory, by unlimited and 
quite meaningless noise, and hospitals filled with the 
wounded and dying. It is curious that the festival 
should have gone on in this monotonous manner dec- 
ade after decade luitil nearly the middle of its second 
century of life, and then suddenly should have en- 
countered a revolution far more abrupt than the early, 
heroic one which it commemorates. 

For our attitude toward the Fourth is undergoing 
swift revolution as regards our understanding both 
of the causes that underlay American independence, 
of the real spirit in which the Declaration was penned, 
and of the reasons why July fourth rather than some 
other day was fixed upon. Finally, the swiftest 
Fourth of July revolution of all is taking place in the 
way we celebrate it. 

Until quite recently all historians have, consciously 
or unconsciously, been consistent in misrepresenting 
the War of Seventy-Six and the events leading 
thereto. And we owe no small debt of gratitude to 
writers like Mr. Owen Wister and Mr. Sydney 

II 



12 INTRODUCTION 

George Fisher for telling us the truth. Mr. Wister 
writes ^ of the Revolution that while " As a war, its 
real military aspect is slowly emerging from the myth 
of uninterrupted patriotism and glory, universally 
taught to school children, its political hue is still 
thickly painted and varnished over by our writers. 
" How many Americans know, for instance, that 
England was at first extremely lenient to us ? fought us 
(until 1778) with one hand in a glove, and an olive 
branch in the other? had any wish rather than to 
crush us ; had no wish save to argue us back into the 
fold, and enforce argument with an occasional victory 
not followed up? . . . For any American his- 
torian to speak the truth on these matters is a very re- 
cent phenomenon, their common design having been 
to leave out any facts which spoil the political picture 
of the Revolution they chose to paint for our edifica- 
tion : a ferocious, blood-shot tyrant on the one side, 
and on the other a compact band of ' Fathers,' down- 
trodden and martyred, yet with impeccable linen and 
bland legs. A wrong conception even of the Declara- 
tion of Independence as Jefferson's original invention 
still prevails ; Jefferson merely drafted the document, 
expressing ideas well established in the contemporary 
air. Let us suppose that some leader of our own time 
were to write : * Three dangers to-day threaten the 
United States, any one of which could be fatal : un- 
scrupulous capital, destroying man's liberty to com- 
pete ; unscrupulous Labor, destroying man's liberty 
to work ; and undesirable Immigration, in which four 
years of naturalization are not going to counteract 
four hundred years of heredity. Unless the people 
check all of these, American liberty will become ex- 
^ In " The Seven Ages of Washington." 



INTRODUCTION 13 

tinct.' If some one were to write a new Declaration of 
Independence, containing such sentences, he could not 
claim originality for them ; he would be merely stating 
ideas that are among us everywhere. This is what 
Jefferson did, writing his sentences loosely, because 
the ideas they expressed were so familiar as to render 
exact definitions needless." 

Mr. Wister deserves gratitude for giving us these 
unpalatable truths in such palatable form ; but he 
should have far more gratitude for introducing to a 
wide body of readers his chief source of information, 
the historian Mr. Sydney George Fisher, one of whose 
most valuable chapters has fortunately been secured 
for reproduction in the body of this book. Mr. Fisher 
writes : ^ 

" I cannot feel satisfied with any description of the 
Revolution which treats the desire for independence 
as a sudden thought, and not a long growth and de- 
velopment, or which assumes that every detail of the 
conduct of the British government was absurdly stu- 
pid, even from its own point of view, and that the 
loyalists were few in numbers and their arguments 
not worth considering. . . . 

" The historians seem to have assumed that we do 
not want to know about that controversy " (over 
Gen. Howe's lenient methods), "or that it will be bet- 
ter for us not to know about it. They have assumed 
that it will be better for Americans to think that inde- 
pendence was a sudden and deplorable necessity and 

1 In the Introduction to " The True History of the Ameri- 
can Revolution." For the most modern and unvarnished 
presentation of the inner history of the period see also his 
larger work, " The Struggle for American Independence." 
(Lippincott.) 



14 INTRODUCTION 

not a desire of long and ardent growth and cautiously 
planned intention. They have assumed that we want 
to think of England as having lost the colonies by 
failure to be conciliatory, and that the Revolution was 
a one-sided, smooth affair, without any of the difficul- 
ties or terrors of a rebellion or a great upheaval of 
settled opinion." 

There can be small doubt that when this true inner 
history of our independence becomes generally known 
it will do much to mitigate the blind, provincial spread- 
eagleism that still clings to even our safest and sanest 
celebrations of the Fourth and that has so ably 
thwarted every motion toward fraternal intimacy be- 
tween the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon 
race. The following ^ paragraph is fairly typical of 
the British attitude toward the celebration of our na- 
tional birthday. 

" Where a country or a government has been baf- 
fled in its efforts to attain or preserve a hated rule 
over another people, it must be content to see its fail- 
ure made the subject of never-ending triumph and 
exultation. The joy attached to the sense of escape 
or emancipation tends to perpetuate itself by .periodi- 
cal celebrations, in which it is not likely that the mo- 
tives of the other party, or the general justice of the 
case, will be very carefully considered or allowed for. 
We may doubt if it be morally expedient thus to keep 
alive the memory of facts which as certainly infer 
mortification to one party as they do glorification to 
another : but we must all admit that it is only natural, 
and in a measure to be expected." 

When we come to view the facts as they are, to 
realize of what shocking sportsmanship our own one- 

1 From Chambers' " Book of Days." 



INTRODUCTION 15 

sided view of independence convicts us, we shall have 
removed one of the chief obstacles to Anglo-Saxon 
solidarity. But it will be necessary first to learn 
something about the day we celebrate. How many, 
for instance, even know that July fourth was fixed 
upon as a compromise date between two other rival 
claimants ? 

Walsh writes : ^ 

" It may not be generally known that no less than 
three dates might reasonably compete for designation 
as the natal day of American Independence and for 
the honors of the anniversary of that event. 

" On the second of July, 1776, was adopted the reso- 
lution of independence, the sufficient legislative act ; 
and it was this day that Mr. Adams designated as the 
anniversary in the oft-quoted letter written on his desk 
at the time, prophesying its future celebration, by 
bells, bonfires, cannonades, etc. On the fourth of 
July occurred the Declaration of Independence. On 
the second of August following took place the cere- 
mony of signature, which has furnished to the popular 
imagination the common pictorial and dramatic con- 
ceptions of the event. 

" The history connecting these three dates may be 
intelligently told in a brief space. On the fifteenth of 
May, 1776, a convention in Virginia had instructed its 
delegates in the General Congress ' to propose to that 
body to declare the United Colonies free and inde- 
pendent States, absolved from all allegiance to or 
dependence on the Crown or Parliament of Great 
Britain, and that they give the assent of this Colony 
to such declaration, and to whatever measures may 
be thought proper and necessary by the Congress for 

. ^ In " Curiosities of Popular Customs." 



i6 INTRODUCTION 

forming foreign alliances and a confederation of the 
Colonies.' The motion thus ordered was on the sev- 
enth of June made in Congress by Rir^ -' ' ry Lee, 
as the oldest member of the Virgim . It 

was to the effect that ' these United Colonies are, and 
of right ought to be, free and independent States ; 
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the 
British crown ; and that all political connection be- 
tween them and the state of Great Britain is, and 
ought to be, totally dissolved.' The resolution was 
slightly debated for two or three days, but from con- 
siderations of prudence or expediency the discussion 
was intermitted. As texts for the action of Congress 
there were the resolution referred to, and the more 
formal, or at least more lengthy, document which the 
committee of five — Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sher- 
man, and Livingston — had been instructed on the 
eleventh of June to prepare. This document was 
draughted by Jefferson and presented under the title 
of ' A Declaration by the Representatives of the 
United States of America in General Congress assem- 
bled.' 

" On the first of July there was again called up in 
Congress the resolution proposed by Mr. Lee. On 
the second of July it passed. Two days later (the 
fourth of July) was adopted, after various amend- 
ments, the ' Declaration ' from Mr. Jefferson's pen. 
The document was authenticated, like the other papers 
of the Congress, by the signature of the president and 
the secretary, and, in addition, was signed by the mem- 
bers present, with the exception of Mr. Dickinson of 
Pennsylvania, who, as Mr. Jefferson has testified, * re- 
fused to sign it.' 

" But it did not then bear the names of the members 



INTRODUCTION 17 

of Congress as they finally appeared on it. A number 
of these still opposed it, and had voted against it ; it 
was passed unanimously only as regarded states. 
Thus, a majprit ;of the Pennsylvania delegation had 
persistently o^.posed it, and it was only the absence of 
two of their delegates on the final vote that left a 
majority for this state in its favor. Some days after 
the Declaration had thus passed, and had been pro- 
claimed at the head of the army, it was ordered by 
Congress that it be engrossed on parchment and signed 
by every member; and it was not until the second of 
August that these signatures were made, and the mat- 
ter concluded by this peculiar and august ceremony of 
personal pledges in the autographs of the members. 
It is this copy or form of the Declaration which has, 
in fact, been preserved as the original : the first signed 
paper does not exist, and was probably destroyed as 
incomplete. 

" If the natal day of American Independence is to 
be derived from the ceremony of these later signa- 
tures, and the real date of what has been preserved as 
the legal original of the Declaration, then it would 
be the second of August. If derived from the sub- 
stantial, legal act of separation from the British 
Crown, which was contained rather in the resolution 
of Congress than in its Declaration of Independence, 
it would be the second of July. But common consent 
has determined to date the great anniversary from the 
apparently subordinate event of the passage of the 
Declaration, and thus celebrates the Fourth of July 
as the birthday of the nation." 

Finally, after making ourselves reasonably intelli- 
gent as to the origin, spirit and true significance of In- 
dependence Day it behooves us as true Americans to 



i8 INTRODUCTION 

enter the splendid new movement which is endeavoring 
to make the Fourth over from a day of shallow jingo- 
ism and unmeaning brutality and carnage into a day 
of initiation into the meaning of true citizenship and a 
festival of deep and genuine and beautiful patriotism. 

R. H. S. 



I 

CELEBRATION 



INDEPENDENCE DAY 

THE GREAT AMERICAN HOLIDAY 

ANONYMOUS 

Among all the holidays of the year, one stands out 
as preeminently American ; one appeals especially to 
that sentiment of patriotism and national pride which 
glows in every loyal American heart. Independence 
Day — the Fourth of July — is observed in every 
State in the Union as our distinctive national holiday ; 
and rightly so, for the event which it celebrates is by 
far the most important in American history — an 
event no less, indeed, than the birth of the nation. 

Independence Day celebrates the signing, on the 
Fourth of July, 1776, of the paper which declared 
this country forever free from British rule. It had 
been under consideration for some time by the Con- 
tinental Congress, assembled at Philadelphia, and final 
action was finally taken on July 4. From that time 
forward, the American colonists were no longer rebels 
in arms against their country, but a free people fight- 
ing for their independence. 

That the Declaration of Independence was mainly 
the work of Thomas Jefferson has been established 
beyond reasonable doubt ; and it stands to-day one of 

21 



22 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

the most remarkable state papers in the history of the 
world. 

At the time of the passage of the act, John Adams 
wrote to his wife a letter which has become historic. 
" I am apt to beheve," he wrote, " that this day will 
be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great 
anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated 
as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion 
to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp 
and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bon- 
fires, and illuminations, from one end of this conti- 
nent to the other, from this time forward forever- 
more." 

Bonfires and guns there have been without limit ; 
and the deaths that have resulted from these cele- 
brations would form no inconsiderable fraction of 
those lost during the Revolution. For years, the cele- 
bration of this great holiday has consisted mainly of 
meaningless noise ; but there is a steadily growing 
sentiment in favor of a more worthy observance of 
the day, as a time when every loyal American should 
rejoice in the welfare of his country, and recall with 
pride the manner in which the Nation was estab- 
lished. 



THE NATION'S BIRTHDAY 

BY MARY E. VANDYNE 

Ring out the joy bells ! Once again, 
With waving flags and rolling drums, 

We greet the Nation's Birthday, when, 
In glorious majesty, it comes. 



CELEBRATION 23 

Ah, day of days ! Alone it stands, 

While, like a halo round it cast, 
The radiant work of patriot hands. 

Shines the bright record of the past. 

Among the nations of the earth. 

What land hath story like our own? 
No thought of conquest marked her birth ; 

No greed of power was ever shown 
By those who crossed the ocean wild. 

That they might plant upon her sod 
A home for Peace and Virtue mild, 

And altars rear to Freedom's God. 

How grand the thought that bade them roam ! 

Those pilgrim bands, by Faith inspired — 
That bade them leave their cherished home, 

And, with the martyr's spirit fired, 
Guide their frail vessels o'er the main 

Upon the glorious mission bound 
On alien soil a grave to gain. 

Or else a free born nation found. 

What land has heroes like to ours? 

Their names are as the lightning's gleams, 
When, on the darkling cloud that lowers. 

In blinding majesty it streams. 
Great Washington, the man of faith. 

Who conquered doubt with patient might ; 
Warren and Putnam, true till death, 

The " Swamp Fox," eager for the fight. 



24 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

See Major Molly's woman hand 

Drive home the murderous cannon ball ; 
How bravely Lydia Darrach planned, 

For home and country risking all. 
A glorious list, and without end; 

Forgotten were both sex and age ; 
Their names in radiant luster blend, 

And shine like stars on history's page. 

Like stars to light the firmament, 

And show the world what men may do 
Who, as God's messengers, are sent 

And to their mission still are true. 
No end had they to seek or gain ; 

Their work was there before their sight ; 
There lay their duty, stern and plain, 

To dare and suffer for the right. 

The right that conquered, and whose power 

Is shown in our broad land to-day ; 
Shown in this bright and prosperous hour. 

When peace and plenty gild our way ; 
Shown in the glorious song that swells 

The hearts of men from South to North, 
And in its rapturous accents tell 

The story of our glorious Fourth. 

HOW THE FOURTH OF JULY SHOULD BE 
CELEBRATED 

BY JULIA WARD HOWE 

I HAVE been invited to present some hints as to the 
proper observance of our great national holiday, the 
Fourth of July, and the false education implied by 



CELEBRATION 25 

warlike celebrations in a nation whose corner stone is 
peace and whose freedom is a standing protest against 
old-world militarism. 

The topic carries me back in thought to days of 
childhood, when, in my native city of New York, the 
endless crackling of torpedoes, the explosion of fire- 
crackers and the booming of cannon, made the day 
one of joyous confusion and fatigue, culminating in 
a distant view of the city fireworks sent up from Castle 
Garden. It then seemed to be a day wholly devoted 
to boyish pleasure and mischief, sure to be followed 
by reports of hairbreadth escapes and injuries more 
or less serious, sometimes even fatal. The day was 
one of terror to parents, who, while deeming it un- 
wise to interdict to their sons the enjoyment of gun- 
powder, dreaded to see them maimed or disfigured for 
life by some unlooked-for accident. It was not un- 
common then, nor is it now, to read of some sudden 
death, some irretrievable blindness or other injury 
caused by the explosion of a toy cannon or the mis- 
adventure of some fireworks on " the Fourth," as the 
day has come to be called. 

These were tragical events truly, but they appear 
less real to me in remembrance than do the laugh- 
ing faces of my young brothers who were allowed to 
arrange a small table for their greater convenience 
on the pavement of ancient Bond Street, a very quiet 
byway in those days. From this spot went forth a 
perpetual popping and fizzing, varied by the occasional 
thud of a double-headed firecracker. Shouts of 
merriment followed these explosions. The girls 
within doors enjoyed the fracas from the open win- 
dows, and in the evening our good elders brought 
forth a store of Roman candles, blue lights, and 



26 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

rockets. I remember a year, early in the thirties, in 
which good Gideon Lee, a democratic Mayor of New 
York, issued an edict prohibitive of all home fire- 
works. Just as we had settled ourselves in the de- 
termination to regard him thenceforth as our natural 
enemy, the old gentleman's heart failed him, and, liv- 
ing next door to us, he called to say that he would 
make a few exceptions to the rule for the day, and 
that we should count among these. 

Removing to Boston some ten years later, I found 
the night of the third of July rendered almost sleep- 
less by the shrill gamut of gunpowder discharges. 
The ringing of bells and the booming of cannon de- 
stroyed the last chance of an early morning nap, and 
in self-defense most people left their beds and went 
forth to see what could be seen. This was some- 
times a mock procession of the Antiques and Hor- 
ribles, so called in parody of the Ancient and Honor- 
able Artillery, so well known in and about Boston. 
Or, one might join the throng on the Common, where 
a brass band performed popular airs, American and 
Irish-American. I do indeed recall certain notable 
performances connected with the usual observance of 
the National Festival. I was a dweller in Boston 
when Charles Sumner, then chiefly known as a rising 
lawyer and incipient philanthropist, was appointed to 
deliver the Fourth of July oration, and chose for 
his theme the true grandeur of nations. This 
grandeur he found entirely in the conquests of peace 
as opposed to the popular worship of military re- 
nown. His audience, composed in part of men in 
soldier's garb, were but little in sympathy with his 
views, and I remember the performance as having 
called forth more irritation than approbation. 



CELEBRATION 27 

These prophetic ghmpses of good which seem far 
from the practical questions of the time do visit 
earnest souls in this way, like some ray of light from 
an undiscovered star. The same train of thought, at 
about the same time, took shape in Mr. Longfellow's 
fine poem on the Arsenal in Springfield. It may be 
remembered that the poet was Mr. Sumner's most 
intimate friend. While the two men held the same 
views regarding the great questions of the time, Mr. 
Longfellow's bonhomie rendered him very inapt to 
give offense, while Sumner seemed destined to arouse 
violent opposition in those from whom he differed. 

I remember another Fourth of July at which Ed- 
ward Everett's measured rhetoric and silver voice held 
the attention of a numerous assemblage. Mr. Everett 
was certainly master of the art of graceful oratory, 
and was always heard with appreciation, even by those 
who felt little satisfaction in his public career. 

One of Ralph Waldo Emerson's finest poems was 
written for the celebration of the Fourth in his own 
town of Concord. The two opening lines of this dwell 
always in my memory : 

" Oh ! tenderly the haughty Day 
Fills his blue urn with fire." 

But, beautiful as they are, the solemn lesson of the 
poet exceeds them in interest. 

" United States ! the Ages plead. 
Present and Past in under-song; 
Go, put your creed into your deed, 
Nor speak with double tongue. 



28 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

" Be just at home, then write your scroll 
Of honor o'er the sea, 
And bid the broad Atlantic roll 
A ferry of the Free." 

Here is a thought picture which we may love to 
dwell upon. Emerson, the descendant of the Puri- 
tans, himself a transfigured Puritan, reading these 
stanzas of his, whose fire is tempered by the weight 
of thought, in that old town of Concord, where, in 
his own phrase : 

" — the embattled farmers stood. 
And fired the shot heard round the world." 

A fiercer fight was then before us, whose issue is 
simply prefigured in the words: "Be just at home." 
Surely, we might take this saying for a national 
motto, its reminder still needed, though the slave is 
freed from the whip and fetter. Of the day on which 
our Independence was declared John Adams said : 

" It ought to be commemorated as the day of de- 
liverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. 
It ought to be celebrated with pomp and parade, with 
shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illumi- 
nations, from one end of this continent to the other, 
from this time forward forevermore." 

These words show how comprehensive was the view 
which the old statesman took of a Nation's holiday. 
He desired that all classes and all ages should partici- 
pate in the joy expressed. The time which has 
elapsed since his memorable utterance has brought 
nothing to diminish this joy. It has however brought 
into being a new society for which " pomp and parade. 



CELEBRATION 29 

bells, guns and bonfires " are less available for good 
than pleasures of a more elevated character. We 
now desire a celebration which shall speak less to 
the bodily sense and more to the inner sense. This 
is because the historic development of the race goes 
ever forward. John Adams would have had both 
sober and wild rejoicing over the birth of a new state, 
representing a new order of things. We stand face 
to face with the question: How shall we maintain 
our deliverance from old-world trammels ? This free- 
dom which was declared in 1776, what are its condi- 
tions, what its true uses? 

History is full of paradoxes whose meaning does 
not lie upon the surface of what we see. Many of 
these recall the riddle of Samson : " Out of the eater 
came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth 
sweetness." Even so, the things that make for peace 
often come out of contests full of violence and blood- 
shed, while the elements of anarchy ripen best in the 
submission enforced by autocratic despotism, the 
ominous quiet which is sure to be broken by some 
terrific social cataclysm. In the first instance, which 
alone concerns our theme, we must remember that 
the bloodshed came, not of the peaceable principles of 
eternal justice, but of the effort on the part of 
tyrants to gainsay and oppose these. It follows from 
this that in commemorating the events which have 
had most to do with the liberation of mankind from 
the yoke of despotism and superstition, we must keep 
in view these underlying truths which in themselves 
involve no violence, but the vindication of which may 
involve great sacrifices of devoted Hves. 

The fact that our heroes fought for freedom against 
almost hopeless odds should be brought to mind, and 



30 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

their names should be hallowed in perpetual remem- 
brance. But, if we would crown their conquest, we 
must give more attention to the good for which they 
died than to the mere circumstance of their death. 
The ordinary procedure of mankind is quite the op- 
posite of this. They are proud of the military suc- 
cess, careless of the civic and ethical gain. Even 
the Christian church accentuates too much the death 
of its Founder, is too little concerned with the truth 
for which he really gave his life. A Lent of prayer 
and fasting, with dramatic repetition of the betrayal 
and crucifixion of the Blessed One, may merely bring 
with it suggestions of devotion and gratitude. But 
far more important would be a Lent of study of the 
deep meaning of his words and works. It makes one 
sick at heart to think of the formal rehearsal of great 
events by those who have no understanding of their 
true significance, and can therefore claim but a small 
part in their real benefit. 

The parallelisms too of history are very instructive. 
In the confusions and difficulties of our own time it 
is useful for us to learn that men in other times have 
had similar problems to solve, and have found their 
solutions. It is helpful for us to know that our pure 
and blameless Washington was, in his day, the sub- 
ject of malignant slander and mischievous cabal. Our 
own best public men are liable to the grossest mis- 
interpretations of their utterances and of their 
measures. Unworthy demagogues to-day will present 
very dangerous evils in a light attractive to the multi- 
tude. This has always been so. No man marches 
to victory over a bed of roses. The roses crown his 
perseverances, but the thorns lacerate his bleeding 
feet. But, with these sad recollections, we must keep 



CELEBRATION 31 

in sight the immortal hope sung by the poets, reasoned 
out by the philosophers, and acted out by earth's saints 
and heroes, the hope which is justified by the great 
progress of the ages, the elevation of the natural man 
into the dignity of the spiritual man. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who saw one of the 
great Italian festivals in which the poet Dante was 
especially commemorated, saw also the pressing need 
of wise counsel and brave action throughout the 
struggling country, and asks what will become of the 
new Italy if her young men shall " stand still strew- 
ing violets all the time? " We may ask too what will 
become of our new Republic if the hours of its highest 
festival continue to be occupied with fustian oratory, 
gunpowder enthusiasm, and the exercise of every poor 
and mean trade, the sale of toys, bad food, and worse 
liquor ? 

Now, I would by no means abridge the childish 
pleasure of the day, if I could do so. We must allow 
children the explosion of animal spirits, and they will 
delight, as some grown-up people will, in much that 
is irrational. But the day itself is too important to 
be made one of mere noise and parade. It should be 
made highly valuable for impressing upon the minds 
of the young the history of their national liberty, and 
its cause. Besides our own young people, we have 
with us the youth of many nations, whose parents 
have come to our shores, drawn by various hopes of 
gain and benefit. These children will form an im- 
portant part of our future body poHtic, in whose gov- 
ernment to-day, their parents are, too, easily able to 
participate. 

The question will be, how to make the Fourth of 
July a true festival, a national solemnity, without for- 



32 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

getting the claims of the young to be amused, as well 
as to be instructed. In the first place, I should think 
that the day might fitly be made one of reunion, by 
different clubs and associations of culture and philan- 
thropy. Those whose thoughts go deep enough to un- 
derstand the true conditions of human freedom, might 
meet and compare their studies and experiences. 
Very fitly, after such a meeting, each individual of 
them might seek a group, to whose members he might 
present a popular statement of the philosophy of free- 
dom. Mothers, who should be the true guardians of 
peace, might well come together to study all that pro- 
motes its maintenance. In gatherings of older chil- 
dren, prize essays might be presented and discussed. 
I can imagine civic banquets, of a serious and stately 
character, in which men and women might sit together 
and pledge each other, in the exhilaration of friend- 
ship and good feeling. 

I would have processions, but I would have them 
less military in character, and more pacific in sug- 
gestion. Congregations of the various religious con- 
fessions might walk in order, headed by their minis- 
ters, who should all exchange the right hand of 
fellowship with each other. I would have no monster 
concerts, which cannot be fully enjoyed, but divers 
assemblages, at which music of the highest order 
should be presented. Letters of greeting should be 
exchanged between cities and states, and the device 
of the day should be, " In the Name of the Republic." 
The history of the war which culminated in our 
national independence should be amply illustrated by 
graphic lectures, and possibly by living pictures. Mr. 
John Fiske has an admirable talent for bringing the 
past and its heroes as vividly before us as if he him- 



CELEBRATION 33 

self had seen them but the day before. If it were 
possible to multiply his valued personality, I would 
have many sketches given in various places, of the 
brave struggle of our forefathers and of those who 
were foremost in it. 

" Going out of town to avoid the Fourth," has been 
a phrase so common in my time that it ceases to 
awaken attention, and is taken as a matter of course. 
I cannot indeed wonder that people of refined tastes 
and sensitive nerves should seek to free themselves 
from the noise and crowd of the usual observance. 
The question is whether, with a wiser administration, 
the same people might not be led to gather, rather than 
to disperse for the celebration. 

How would the following programme answer? 

On the evening of the third of July, quiet gather- 
ings in halls or churches, in which the true love of 
country should be explained and illustrated. How 
many a name, half or wholly forgotten, would then be 
recalled from oblivion, and with it the labor and sac- 
rifice of some noble life, some example precious for 
the community ! 

The morning of the Fourth to be ushered in by 
martial music, and a military display sufficient to re- 
call the services of the brave men who gave our 
fathers liberty. At ten o'clock orations in various 
public buildings, the ablest speakers of the common- 
wealth doing their best to impart the lesson of the 
day. At one a Spartan feast, wholesome and simple. 
No liquor to be served thereat, and none to be sold 
during the day. From twelve to half past four in the 
afternoon, I would have exercises for the children of 
the public schools, examination of classes in American 
history, prizes given for essays on historical and 



34 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

patriotic subjects. Later, a gathering in public gar- 
dens, and a tea, with fruit and flowers, served for the 
children of the city. In the evening, the singing of 
national anthems, tableaux vivants and fireworks, and 
in some form, a pastoral benediction. 

To these exercises I would add the signing of a 
pledge of good citizenship. We take much pains, and 
not unwisely, to persuade men and women to sign a 
pledge of total abstinence from alcoholic liquors. But 
why should we not go further than this, and lead them 
to pledge themselves to some useful service in the 
community? This pledge might be either general or 
particular in its terms, but the act of signing it should 
imply a disinterested public service of some sort, a 
participation in some work useful for the health, 
beauty, or order of the city, without other reward than 
the badge or button which would represent the agree- 
ment entered into. I would have the history of other 
Republics brought forward on this day, and especially, 
the heroic struggles of our own time. Among these, 
I would certainly accord a place to the story of the 
great-hearted men to whom Italy owes her freedom. 
And I would if I could compel the attendance of our 
men and women of fashion upon lectures in which 
the true inwardness of European society should be 
exposed, and the danger shown of the follies and 
luxurious pomp which they delight in imitating, and 
which, however aesthetically adorned and disguised, are 
for us to lead in the pathway of moral and intellectual 
deterioration. 

I would have the great political offenses of the cen- 
tury fitly shown, the crimes of Louis Napoleon, the 
rapacious wars of Germany, France and England, the 
wicked persecution of the Jews. Now that we are 



CELEBRATION 35 

nearing the dose of our nineteenth century, it be- 
comes most important for us that its historic record 
should be truly rehearsed, its great saints and sinners 
characterized, its wonderful discoveries and inventions 
explained. 

The very meager programme suggested here for our 
great day may appear to many Utopian and impossi- 
ble. I shall be glad if it can serve to pave the way 
for kindred suggestions, to which individual minds 
may give a broader and more varied scope. Let us 
unite our efforts in behalf of a suitable and serious 
honoring of the day in such wise that every heart, old 
and young, shall have therein its especial joy, and 
every mind its especial lesson. 

I had at one time a plan of my own, of setting apart 
one day in the year as a Mother's Day. This festival 
was to be held in the interest of a world's peace, and 
for quite a number of years it was so observed by 
groups of women in various parts of the country, 
while in England and even in far-off Smyrna friends 
m.et together, with song, prayer, and earnest dis- 
course to emphasize the leading thought, which was 
that women, as the mothers of the race, knowing 
fully the cost of human life, should unite their eft"orts 
throughout the world to restrain the horrors of war, 
and to persuade men to keep the sacred bond of 
peace. It now occurs to me that we should make our 
Fourth of July a Mother's, as well as a Father's day. 
In the public programme of every town throughout 
our vast Commonwealth, women should have some 
word to say and some part to play. What we have 
already seen of their culture and ability is enough to 
assure us that their participation in such proceedings 
would intensify their good features and discourage 



36 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

their objectionable ones. And as in the forms of 
oratory with which we are familiar, much is made 
of what the world owes to America, we might sug- 
gest that our women speakers might especially bring 
forward the antithesis of this question, in another, viz., 
What America owes to the world. 



II 

SPIRIT AND SIGNIFICANCE 



ENGLAND AND AMERICA 

BY JAMES BRYCE 

This is a memorable day to Englishmen as well as 
to Americans. It is to us a day both of regret and 
of rejoicing: of regret at the severance of the politi- 
cal connection which bound the two branches of our 
race together, and of regret even more for the un- 
happy errors which brought that severance about, and 
the unhappy strife by which the memory of it was 
embittered. But it is also a day of rejoicing, for it 
is the birthday of the eldest daughter of England — 
the day when a new nation, sprung from our own, 
first took its independent place in the world. And 
now with the progress of time, rejoicing has pre- 
vailed over regret, and we in England can at length 
join heartily with you in celebrating the beginning 
of your national life. All sense of bitterness has 
passed away, and been replaced by sympathy with all 
which this anniversary means to an American heart. 

England and America now understand one another 
far better than they ever did before. In 1776 there 
was on one side a monarch and a small ruling caste, 
on the other side a people. Now our government can 
no longer misrepresent the nation, and across the 
ocean a people speaks to a people. We have both 
come, and that most notably within recent months, to 
perceive that all over the world the interests of 
America and of England are substantially the same. 

39 



INDEPENDENCE DAY 

.he sense of our underlying unity over against the 
-cher races and forms of civilization has been a potent 
force in drawing us together. It is said that the 
Fourth of July is a day of happy augury for man- 
kind. This is true because on that day America en- 
tered on a course and proclaimed principles of gov- 
ernment which have been of profound significance for 
mankind. Many nations have had a career of con- 
quest and of civilizing dominion : but to make an im- 
mense people prosperous, happy, and free is a nobler 
and grander achievement than the most brilliant con- 
quests and the widest dominion. 

THE BIRTHDAY OF THE NATION 

(From address delivered July 4, 1851, at laying the corner- 
stone of the new wing of the Capitol.) 

BY DANIEL WEBSTER 

This is that day of the year which announced to 
mankind the great fact of American Independence ! 
This fresh and brilliant morning blesses our vision 
with another beholding of the birthday of our Nation ; 
and we see that Nation, of recent origin, now among 
the most considerable and powerful, and spreading 
from sea to sea over the continent. 

On the fourth day of July, 1776, the representa- 
tives of the United States of America, in Congress 
assembled, declared that these Colonies are, and ought 
to be, free and independent States. This declaration, 
made by most patriotic and resolute men, trusting in 
the justice of their cause and the protection of 
Heaven, — and yet not without deep solicitude and 
anxiety — has now stood for seventy-five years. It 



SPIRIT AND SIGNIFICANCE 41 

was sealed in blood. It has met dangers and over- 
come them. It has had detractors, and abashed them 
all. It has had enemies, and conquered them. It has 
had doubting friends, but it has cleared all doubts 
away ; and now, to-day, raising its august form higher 
than the clouds, twenty millions of people contemplate 
it with hallowed love, and the world beholds it, and 
the consequences that have followed from it, with pro- 
found admiration. 

This anniversary animates and gladdens all Ameri- 
can hearts. On other days of the year we may be 
party men, indulging in controversies more or less 
important to the public good. We may have likes and 
dislikes, and we may maintain our political differences, 
often with warm, and sometimes with angry feelings. 
But to-day we are Americans all; nothing but Amer - 
cans. 

As the great luminary over our heads, dissipating 
fogs and mist, now cheers the whole atmosphere, so 
do the associations connected with this day disperse 
all sullen and cloudy weather in the minds and feel- 
ings of true Americans. Every man's heart swells 
within him. Every man's port and bearing becomes 
somewhat more proud and lofty as he remembers that 
seventy-five years have rolled away, and that the great 
inheritance of Liberty is still his, — his, undiminished 
and unimpaired ; his, in all its original glory ; his to 
enjoy ; his to protect ; his to transmit to future genera- 
tions. 



42 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

THE FOURTH OF JULY 

BY CHARLES LEONARD MOORE 
(From The Forum.) 

Let be the herds and what the harvest brings ; 
Give to obhvion all that's sold and bought, 
The count of unrememberable things ; — 
Our better birthright is this day's report ! 
Live our sires in us ? Keep we their old skill 
To know Occasion's whisper and be great ? 
Can our proud blood in one contagious thrill 
Put admiration in the eyes of Fate ? 
Wide is our realm, and twin seas feel our yoke, 
Aye, and the oarless ocean of the North ; — 
Are we then mightier than that scattered folk, 
That fringe of dingers by the sea-beach froth 

Whose loins begat us? Let to-morrow show 

H their stern arts hereditary grow. 

LIFT UP YOUR HEARTS 

ANONYMOUS 

Snrsuni corda. We have in our own time seen the 
Republic survive an irrepressible conflict, sown in the 
blood and marrow of the social order. We have seen 
the Federal Union, not too strongly put together in 
the first place, come out of a great war of sections 
stronger than when it went into it, its faith renewed, 
its credit rehabilitated, and its flag saluted with love 
and homage by sixty millions of God-fearing men 
and women, thoroughly reconciled and homogeneous. 
We have seen the Federal Constitution outlast the 



SPIRIT AND SIGNIFICANCE 43 

strain, not merely of a Reconstructory ordeal and a 
Presidential impeachment, but a disputed count of the 
Electoral vote, a Congressional deadlock, and an ex- 
tra constitutional tribunal, yet standing firm against 
the assaults of its enemies, while yielding itself with 
admirable flexibility to the needs of the country and 
the time. And finally we saw the gigantic fabric of 
the Federal Government transferred from the hands 
that held it a quarter of a century to other hands, with- 
out a protest, although so close was the poll in the 
final count that a single blanket might have covered 
both contestants for the Chief Magisterial office. 
With such a record behind us, who shall be afraid of 
the future? 

The young manhood of the country may take this 
lesson from those of us who lived through times that 
did indeed try men's souls — when, pressed down 
from day to day by awful responsibilities and sus- 
pense, each night brought a terror with every thought 
of the morrow, and when, look where we would, there 
were light and hope nowhere — that God reigns and 
wills, and that this fair land is and has always been 
in His own keeping. 

The curse of slavery is gone. It was a joint 
heritage of woe, to be wiped out and expiated in 
blood and flame. The mirage of the Confederacy has 
vanished. It was essentially bucolic, a vision of Ar- 
cadie, the dream of a most attractive economic fal- 
lacy. The Constitution is no longer a rope of sand. 
The exact relation of the States to the Federal Gov- 
ernment, left open to double construction by the au- 
thors of our organic being, because they could not 
agree among themselves, and union was the para- 
mount object, has been clearly and definitely fixed by 



44 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

the three last amendments to the original chart, which 
constitute the real treaty of peace between the North 
and the South, and seal our bonds as a nation for- 
ever. 

The Republic represents at last the letter and the 
spirit of the sublime Declaration. The fetters that 
bound her to the earth are burst asunder. The rags 
that degraded her beauty are cast aside. Like the 
enchanted princess in the legend, clad in spotless rai- 
ment and wearing a crown of living light, she steps 
in the perfection of her maturity upon the scene of 
this, the latest and proudest of her victories, to bid 
welcome to the world. 

Need I pursue the theme? This vast assemblage 
speaks with a resonance and meaning which words can 
never reach. It speaks from the fields that are 
blessed by the never-failing waters of the Kennebec 
and from the farms that sprinkle the valley of the 
Connecticut with mimic principalities more potent and 
lasting than the real ; it speaks in the whirr of the 
mills of Pennsylvania and in the ring of the wood- 
cutter's axe from the forests of the lake peninsulas; 
it speaks from the great plantations of the South and 
West, teeming with staples that insure us wealth and 
power and stability, yea, from the mines and forests 
and quarries of Michigan and Wisconsin, of Ala- 
bama and Georgia, of Tennessee and Kentucky far 
away to the regions of silver and gold, that have linked 
the Colorado and the Rio Grande in close embrace, 
and annihilated time and space between the Atlantic 
and the Pacific; it speaks in one word, from the 
hearthstone in Iowa and Illinois, from the home in 
Mississippi and Arkansas, from the hearts of seventy 



SPIRIT AND SIGNIFICANCE 45 

millions of fearless, freeborn men and women, and 
that one word is " Union ! " 

There is no geography in American manhood. 
There are no sections to American fraternity. It 
needs but six weeks to change a Vermonter into a 
Texan, and there has never been a time, when, upon 
the battlefield, or the frontier, Puritan and Cavalier 
were not convertible terms, having in the beginning 
a common origin, and so diffused and diluted on 
American soil as no longer to possess a local habita- 
tion or a nativity, except in the National unit. 

The men who planted the signals of American civ- 
ilization upon that sacred Rock by Plymouth Bay 
were Englishmen, and so were the men who struck 
the coast a little lower down, calling their haven of 
rest after the great Republican commoner, and found- 
ing by Hampton Roads a race of heroes and states- 
men, the mention of whose names brings a thrill to 
every heart. The South claims Lincoln, the immor- 
tal, for its own ; the North has no right to reject 
Stonewall Jackson, the one typical Puritan soldier of 
the war, for its own ! Nor will it ! The time is com- 
ing, is almost here, when hanging above a mantel-board 
in fair New England — glorifying many a cottage in 
the sunny South — shall be seen bound together, in 
everlasting love and honor, two cross swords carried 
to battle respectively by the grandfather who wore the 
blue and the grandfather who wore the gray. 

God bless our country's flag! and God be with us 
now and ever. God in the roof -tree's shade and God 
on the highway, God in the winds and waves, and 
God in our hearts ! 



46 INDEPENDENCE DAY] 
ENGLAND AND THE FOURTH OF JULY 

BY W. T. STEAD 
(From The Independent.) 

I WISH with all my heart that we could adopt the 
Fourth of July as the Festival Day of the whole 
English-speaking race. If this suggestion should seem 
strange to Americans, it is not unfamiliar to many 
Englishmen. We consider that the triumph of the 
American revolt against George III was a vindication 
of the essentially English idea of democratic self-gov- 
ernment, and we believe that we have benefited by 
it almost as much as the Americans. It taught us 
a lesson which made the British Colonial Empire a 
possibility, and if we are now involved in a suicidal 
war in South Africa, it is largely because our Gov- 
ernment has forgotten the principles of George Wash- 
ington, and has gone back to the principles of George 
III. 

For some years past I have presided at a distinctly 
British celebration of the Fourth of July at my 
brother's settlement in Southeast London, at Brown- 
ing Hall, and I have always repudiated the idea that 
Americans should be allowed to monopolize the 
Fourth of July. It is one of the great days of the 
English-speaking race in the celebration of which all 
members of the English-speaking nations should 
participate. 



SPIRIT AND SIGNIFICANCE 



SOME EARLY INDEPENDENCE D. 
ADDRESSES 

ADDRESS OF JOEL BARLOW (jULY 4, I787) 
(At Hartford, Conn.) 

On the anniversary of so great an event as the 
birth of the empire in which we hve, none will ques- 
tion the propriety of passing a few moments in con- 
templating the various objects suggested to the mind 
by the important occasion ; and while the nourishment, 
the growth, and even the existence of our empire de- 
pend upon the united efforts of an extensive and di- 
vided people, the duties of this day ascend from 
amusement and congratulation to a serious patriotic 
employment. 

We are assembled, not to boast, but to realize, not 
to inflate our national vanity by a pompous relation 
of past achievements in the council or the field, but, 
from a modest retrospect of the truly dignified part 
already acted by our countrymen, from an accurate 
view of our present situation, and from an anticipa- 
tion of the scenes that remain to be unfolded, to dis- 
cern and familiarize the duties that still await us as 
citizens, as soldiers, and as men. 

Revolutions in other countries have been affected 
by accident. The faculties of human reason and the 
rights of human nature have been the sport of chance 
and the prey of ambition. When indignation has 
burst the bands of slavery, to the destruction of one 
tyrant, it was only to impose the manacles of an- 
other. This arose from the imperfection of that early 
stage of society, the foundations of empires being laid 



INDEPENDENCE DAY 

ance, with a total inability of foreseeing the 
Tients of civiHzation, or of adapting govern- 
iici-. lo a state of social refinement. On the western 
continent a new task, totally unknown to the legis- 
lators of other nations, was imposed upon the fathers 
of the American empire. Here was a people, lords 
of the soil on which they trod, commanding a pro- 
digious length of coast, and an equal breadth of 
frontier, a people habituated to liberty, professing a 
mild and benevolent religion, and highly advanced in 
science and civilization. To conduct such a people in 
a revolution, the address must be made to reason, as 
well as the passions. 

In what other age or nation has a people, at ease 
upon their own farms, secure and distant from the 
approach of fleets and armies, tide-waiters and stamp- 
masters, reasoned, before they had felt, and, from the 
dictates of duty and conscience, encountered dangers, 
distress, and poverty, for the sake of securing to pos- 
terity a government of independence and peace? 
Here was no Cromwell to inflame the people with 
bigotry and zeal ; no Caesar to reward his followers 
with the spoils of vanquished foes ; and no territory 
to be acquired by conquest. Ambition, superstition, 
and avarice, those universal torches of war, never 
illumined an American field of battle. But the perma- 
nent principles of sober policy spread through the 
colonies, roused the people to assert their rights, and 
conducted the revolution. Those principles were 
noble, as they were new and unprecedented in the 
history of human nations. The majority of a great 
people, on a subject which they imderstand, will never 
act wrong. 

Our duty calls us to act worthy of the age and the 



SPIRIT AND SIGNIFICANCE 49 

country that gave us birth. Every possible encourage- 
ment for great and generous exertions is presented 
before us. The natural resources are inconceivably 
various and great. The enterprising genius of the 
people promises a most rapid improvement in all the 
arts that embellish human nature. The blessings of 
a rational government will invite emigrations from the 
rest of the world and fill the empire with the worthiest 
and happiest of mankind ; while the example of politi- 
cal wisdom and sagacity, here to be displayed, will 
excite emulation through the kingdoms of the earth, 
and meliorate the condition of the human race. 



ADDRESS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (jULY 4, I793) 

(At Boston.) 

Americans ! let us pause for a moment to consider 
the situation of our country at that eventful day when 
our national existence commenced. In the full pos- 
session and enjoyment of all those prerogatives for 
which you then dared to adventure upon " all the 
varieties of untried being," the calm and settled 
moderation of the mind is scarcely competent to con- 
ceive the tone of heroism to which the souls of free- 
men were exalted in that hour of perilous magna- 
nimity. 

Seventeen times has the sun, in the progress of his 
annual revolution, diffused his prolific radiance over 
the plains of independent America. Millions of 
hearts, which then palpitated with the rapturous glow 
of patriotism, have already been translated to brighter 
worlds ; to the abodes of more than mortal freedom. 

Other millions have arisen, to receive from their 



50 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

parents and benefactors an inestimable recompense of 
their achievements. 

A large proportion of the audience, whose benevo- 
lence is at this moment listening to the speaker of 
the day, like him, were at that period too little ad- 
vanced beyond the threshold of life to partake of the 
divine enthusiasm which inspired the American 
bosom ; which prompted her voice to proclaim defiance 
to the thunders of Britain ; which consecrated the 
banners of her armies ; and finally erected the holy 
temple of American Liberty over the tomb of de- 
parted tyranny. 

It is from those who have already passed the 
meridian of life ; it is from you, ye venerable as- 
sertors of the rights of mankind, that we are to be 
informed what were the feelings which swayed 
within your breasts and impelled you to action ; when, 
like the stripling of Israel, with scarcely a weapon to 
attack, and without a shield for your defense, you 
met and, undismayed, engaged with the gigantic great- 
ness of the British power. 

Untutored in the disgraceful science of human 
butchery; destitute of the fatal materials which the 
ingenuity of man has combined to sharpen the scythe 
of death ; unsupported by the arm of any friendly 
alliance, and unfortified against the powerful assaults 
of an unrelenting enemy, you did not hesitate at that 
moment, when your coasts were infested by a formida- 
ble fleet, when your territories were invaded by a 
numerous and veteran army, to pronounce the sen- 
tence of eternal separation from Britain, and to throw 
the gauntlet at a power, the terror of whose recent 
triumphs was almost coextensive with the earth. 

The interested and selfish propensities which, in 



SPIRIT AND SIGNIFICANCE 51 

times of prosperous tranquillity, have such powerful 
dominion over the heart, were all expelled, and in 
their stead the public virtues, the spirit of personal 
devotion to the common cause, a contempt of every 
danger, in comparison with the subserviency of the 
country, had assumed an unlimited control. 

The passion for the public had absorbed all the rest, 
as the glorious luminary of heaven extinguishes, in 
a flood of refulgence, the twinkling splendor of every 
inferior planet. Those of you, my countrymen, who 
were actors in those interesting scenes will best know 
how feeble and impotent is the language of this 
description, to express the impassioned emotions of 
the soul with which you were then agitated. 

Yet it were injustice to conclude from thence, or 
from the greater prevalence of private and personal 
motives in these days of calm serenity, that your 
sons have degenerated from the virtues of their 
fathers. Let it rather be a subject of pleasing re- 
flection to you than the generous and disinterested 
energies which you were summoned to display, are 
permitted, by the bountiful indulgence of heaven, to 
remain latent in the bosoms of your children. 

From the present prosperous appearance of our 
public affairs, we may admit a rational hope that our 
country will have no occasion to require of us those 
extraordinary and heroic exertions, which it was your 
fortune to exhibit. 

But from the common versatility of all human des- 
tiny, should the prospect hereafter darken, and the 
clouds of public misfortune thicken to a tempest ; 
should the voice of our country's calamity ever call 
us to her relief, we swear, by the precious memory 
of the sages who toiled and of the heroes who bled 



52 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

in her defense, that we will prove ourselves not un- 
worthy of the prize which they so dearly purchased; 
that we will act as the faithful disciples of those who 
so magnanimously taught us the instructive lesson of 
republican virtue. 

EXTRACT FROM ADDRESS OF JOHN LATHROP 
(JULY 4, 1796) 

(At Boston.) 

In the war for independence America had but one 
object in view, for in independence are concentrated 
and condensed every blessing that makes life desira- 
ble, every right and privilege which can tend to the 
happiness, or secure the native dignity, of man. In the 
attainment of independence were all their passions, 
their desires, and their powers engaged. The in- 
trepidity and magnanimity of their armies, the wisdom 
and inflexible firmness of their Congress, the ardency 
of their patriotism, their unrepining patience when 
assailed by dangers and perplexed with aggravated 
misfortune, have long and deservedly employed the 
pen of panegyric and the tongue of oratory. 

Through the whole Revolutionary conflict a con- 
sistency and systematic regularity were preserved, 
equally honorable as extraordinary. The unity of de- 
sign and classically correct arrangement of the series 
of incidents which completed the epic story of Ameri- 
can independence, were so wonderful, so well wrought, 
that political Hypercriticism was abashed at the 
mighty production, and forced to join her sister, Envy, 
in applauding the glorious composition. 

On the last page of Fate's eventful volume, with 



SPIRIT AND SIGNIFICANCE 53 

the raptured ken of prophecy, I behold Cohimbia's 
name recorded, her future honors and happiness in- 
scribed. In the same important book, the approach- 
ing end of tyranny and the triumph of right and jus- 
tice are written, in indeHble characters. The struggle 
will soon be over ; the tottering thrones of despots will 
quickly fall, and bury their proud incumbents in their 
massy ruins. 

THE FOURTH OF JULY 

BY CHARLES SPRAGUE 

To the sages who spoke, to the heroes who bled. 
To the day and the deed, strike the harp-strings of 
glory ! 
Let the song of the ransomed remember the dead, 
And the tongue of the eloquent hallow the story ! 
O'er the bones of the bold 
Be the story long told. 
And on fame's golden tablets their triumphs 
enrolled 
Who on freedom's green hills freedom's banner 

unfurled. 
And the beacon-fire raised that gave light to the 
world ! 

They are gone — mighty men ! — and they sleep in 
their fame : 
Shall we ever forget them ? Oh, never ! no, never ! 
Let our sons learn from us to embalm each great 
name. 
And the anthem send down — " Independence for- 
ever ! " 



54 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Wake, wake, heart and tongue ! 
Keep the theme ever young; 
Let their deeds through the long Hue of ages be sung 
Who on freedom's green hills freedom's banner 

unfurled, 
And the beacon-fire raised that gave light to the 
world ! 

OUR NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY 

BY A. H. RICE 

We celebrate to-day no idle tradition — the deeds 
of no fabulous race ; for we tread in the scarcely ob- 
literated footsteps of an earnest and valiant genera- 
tion of men, who dared to stake life, and fortune, 
and sacred honor, upon a declaration of rights, whose 
promulgation shook tyrants on their thrones, gave 
hope to fainting freedom, and reformed the political 
ethics of the world. 

The greatest heroes of former days have sought 
renown in schemes of conquest, based on the love of 
dominion or the thirst for war ; and such had been 
the worship of power in the minds of men, that adula- 
tion had ever followed in the wake of victory. How 
daring then the trial of an issue between a handful 
of oppressed and outlawed colonists, basing their 
cause, under God, upon an appeal to the justice of 
mankind and their own few valiant arms. And how 
immeasurably great was he, the fearless commander, 
who, after the fortunes and triumph of battle were 
over, scorned the thought of a regal throne in the 
hearts of his countrymen. Amidst the rejoicings of 
this day, let us mingle something of gratitude with 



SPIRIT AND SIGNIFICANCE 55 

our joy — something of reverence with our gratitude 
— and something of duty with our reverence. 

Let us cultivate personal independence in the spirit 
of loyalty to the State, and may God grant that we 
may always be able to maintain the sovereignty of 
the State in the spirit of integrity to the Union. 

Whatever shall be the fate of other governments, 
ours thus sustained, shall stand forever. As has been 
elsewhere said, nation after nation may rise and 
fall, kingdoms and empires crumble into ruin, but our 
own native land, gathering energy and strength from 
the lapse of time, shall go on and still go on its des- 
tined way to greatness and renown. And when 
thrones shall crumble into dust, when scepters and 
diadems shall have been forgotten, till heaven's last 
thunder shall shake the world below, the flag of the 
Republic shall still wave on, and its Stars, its Stripes, 
and its Eagle, shall still float in pride, and strength, 
and glory, 

" Whilst the earth bears a plant, 
Or the sea rolls a wave." 

AMERICA'S NATAL DAY 

BY JAMES GILLESPIE BLAINE 

The United States is the only country with a known 
birthday. All the rest began, they know not when, 
and grew into power, they know not hov^r. If there 
had been no Independence Day, England and America 
combined would not be so great as each actually is. 
There is no " Republican," no " Democrat," on the 
Fourth of July, — all are Americans. All feel that 
their country is greater than party. 



5,6 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

CRISES OF NATIONS 

BY DR. FOSS 

There are brief crises in which the drift of in- 
dividual and national history is determined, some- 
times unexpectedly ; critical moments on which great 
decisions hang; days which, like a mountain in a 
plain, lift themselves above the dead level of common 
days into everlasting eminence. Our Day of Inde- 
pendence was such a day ; so was the day of IMarathon, 
and the day of Waterloo. Napoleon admitted that 
the Austrians fought grandly on the field of Rivoli, 
and said, " They failed because they do not under- 
stand the value of minutes." Humboldt refers the 
discovery of America to " a wonderful concatenation 
of trivial circumstances," including a flight of par- 
rots. 

1 

THE FOURTH OF JULY IN WESTMINSTER 
ABBEY 



BY PHILLIPS BROOKS (jULY 4, 1880) 



h 



JTo all true men the birthday of a nation must al- 
ways be a sacred thing. For in our modern thought 
the nation is the making-place of man. Not by the 
traditions of its history, nor by the splendor of its 
corporate achievements, nor by the abstract excellence 
of its Constitution, but by its fitness to make men, 
to beget and educate human character, to contribute 
to the complete humanity the perfect man that is to 
be^— by this alone each nation must be judged to- 
dayT] The nations are the golden candlesticks which 






■PR 



SPIRIT AND SIGNIFICANCE 57 

hold aloft the glory of the Lord, No candlestick can 
be so rich or venerable that men shall honor it if it 
hold no candle. " Show us your man," land cried to 
land. 

It is not for me to glorify to-night the country 
which I love with all my heart and soul. I may not 
ask your praise for anything admirable which the 
United States has been or done. But on my coun- 
try's birthday I may do something far more solemn 
and more worthy of the hour. I may ask for your 
prayers in her behalf : that on the manifold and 
wondrous chance which God is giving her, — on her 
freedom (for she is free, since the old stain of 
slavery was washed out in blood) ; on her uncon- 
strained religious life ; on her passion for education 
and her eager search for truth ; on her zealous care for 
the poor man's rights and opportunities ; on her 
quiet homes where the future generations of men are 
growing ; on her manufactories and her commerce ; on 
her wide gates open to the east and to the west ; on her 
strange meeting of the races out of which a new race 
is slowly being born ; on her vast enterprise and her 
illimitable hopefulness, — on all these materials and 
machineries of manhood, on all that the life of my 
country must mean for humanity, I may ask you to 
pray that the blessing of God, the Father of man, and 
Christ, the Son of man, may. rest forever. 



Ill 

BEFORE THE DAWN OF 
INDEPENDENCE 



AMERICA RESENTS BRITISH DICTATION 

BY HENRY B. CARRINGTON 
(From The Patriotic Reader, J. B. Lippincott & Co., Phila.) 

During the agitation of 1765, concerning the British 
Stamp Act, a convention of its opponents was as- 
sembled in New York City under the name of " The 
Stamp Act Congress." Among the most conspicuous 
of the delegates from the Massachusetts Colony was 
James Otis. As early as 1761 he protested so earnestly 
against permitting the British officers of the customs to 
have " writs of assistance " in their enforcement of the 
British revenue laws, that John Adams, who listened 
to his argument, thus described it : 

" Otis was a flame of fire ! With a promptitude of 
classical allusions, a depth of research, a rapid sum- 
mary of historical events and dates, a profusion of 
legal authorities, a prophetic glance of his eye into 
futurity, and a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, 
he hurried away all before him. Every man of an 
immense audience appeared to me to go away, as I did, 
ready to take up arms against any ' writs of assist- 
ance.' " 

The all-absorbing sentiment of his life, the wealth of 
his diction, and the fire of his oratory have been em- 
bodied in a form which stands among the best of 
American classics. In the romance of " The Rebels," 
Miss Lydia Maria Francis (afterwards Mrs. Child) 

61 



62 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

introduces James Otis as a leading character. After 
the opening statement, that " there was hurrying to and 
fro through the streets of Boston on the night of the 
14th of August, 1765," his patriotic American woman 
shows such a right conception of the power and ora- 
tory of Otis, as well as of the actual tone and spirit 
of his times, that the fragments of her hero's conver- 
sation during the stor>% gathered in the form of a 
speech, have often been mistaken for some actual 
appeal to the people of his period. The youth of 
America will do well to keep it fresh in mind, and 
thereby honor both its author and its subject. 

SPEECH OF JAMES OTIS IN 1765 

England may as well dam up the waters of the 
Nile with bulrushes as to fetter the steps of Freedom, 
more proud and firm in this youthful land than where 
she treads the sequestered glens of Scotland or couches 
herself among the magnificent mountains of Switzer- 
land. Arbitrary principles, like those against which 
we now contend, have cost one king of England his 
life, another his crown, and they may yet cost a third 
his most flourishing colonies. 

We are two millions, one-fifth fighting-men. We 
are bold and vigorous, and we call no man master. 
To the nation from whom we are proud to derive our 
origin we ever were, and we ever will be, ready to 
yield unforced assistance ; but it must not, and it never 
can be extorted. 

Some have sneeringly asked. Are the Americans 
too poor to pay a few pounds on stamped paper? 
No ! America, thanks to God and herself, is rich. 
But the right to take ten pounds implies the right to 



DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE 63 

take a thousand; and what must be the wealth that 
avarice, aided by power, cannot exhaust? True, the 
specter is now small; but the shadow he casts before 
him is huge enough to darken all this fair land. 

Others, in sentimental style, talk of the immense 
debt of gratitude which we owe to England. And 
what is the amount of this debt ? Why, truly, it is the 
same that the young lion owes to the dam which has 
brought it forth on the solitude of the mountain, or 
left it amid the winds and storms of the desert. 

We plunged into the wave, with the great char- 
ter of freedom in our teeth, because the fagot and 
torch were behind us. We have waked this new world 
from its savage lethargy; forests have been pros- 
trated in our path ; towns and cities have grown up 
suddenly as the flowers of the tropics; and the fires 
in our autumnal woods are scarcely more rapid than 
the increase of our wealth and population. 

And do we owe all this to the kind succor of the 
mother-country? No; we owe it to the tyranny that 
drove us from her; to the pelting storms which in- 
vigorated our helpless infancy! 

But perhaps others will say. We ask no money 
from your gratitude ; we only demand that you should 
pay your own expenses. And who, I pray, is to 
judge of their necessity? Why, the king! (And, 
with all due reverence to his sacred majesty, he un- 
derstands the real wants of his distant subjects as 
little as he does the language of the Choctaws.) Who 
is to judge concerning the frequency of these demands ? 
The ministry. Who is to judge whether the money is 
properly expended ? The cabinet behind the throne. 

In every instance, those who take are to judge 
for those who pay. If this system is suffered to go 



64 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

into operation, we shall have reason to esteem it a 
great privilege that rain and dew do not depend upon 
Parliament; otherwise, they would soon be taxed and 
dried. 

But, thanks to God ! There is freedom enough 
left upon earth to resist such monstrous injustice. 
The flame of liberty is extinguished in Greece and 
Rome, but the light of its glowing embers is still bright 
and strong on the shores of America. Actuated by 
its sacred influence, we will resist unto death. 

But we will not countenance anarchy and misrule. 
The wrongs that a desperate community have heaped 
upon their enemies shall be amply and speedily re- 
paired. Still, it is lighted in these colonies which one 
breath of their king may kindle into such fury that 
the blood of all England cannot extinguish it. 

INDEPENDENCE A SOLEMN DUTY 

BY RICHARD HENRY LEE 

The time will certainly come when the fated sepa- 
ration between the mother-country and these colonies 
must take place, whether you will or no, for it is so 
decreed by the very nature of things, by the pro- 
gressive increase of our population, the fertility of our 
soil, the extent of our territory, the industry of our 
countrymen, and the immensity of the ocean which 
separates the two countries. And if this be true, as it 
is most true, who does not see that the sooner it 
takes place the better? — that it would be the height 
of folly not to seize the present occasion, when British 
injustice has filled all hearts with indignation, in- 
spired all minds with courage, united all opinions in 



DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE ^s"--? 

one, and put arms in every hand ? And how long must 
we traverse three thousand miles of a stormy sea to 
solicit of arrogant and insolent men either counsel, 
or commands to regulate our domestic affairs? From 
what we have already achieved it is easy to presume 
what we shall hereafter accomplish. Experience is 
the source of sage counsels, and liberty is the mother 
of great men. Have you not seen the enemy driven 
from Lexington by citizens armed and assembled in 
one day ? Already their most celebrated generals have 
yielded in Boston to the skill of ours. Already their 
seamen, repulsed from our coasts, wander over the 
ocean, the sport of tempests and the prey of famine. 
Let us hail the favorable omen, and fight, not for the 
sake of knowing on what terms we are to be the 
slaves of England, but to secure to ourselves a free 
existence, to found a just and independent govern- 
ment. 

Why do we longer delay ? why still deliberate ? Let 
this most happy day give birth to the American Repub- 
lic. Let her arise, not to devastate and conquer, but to 
reestablish the reign of peace and the laws. The eyes 
of Europe are fixed upon us ; she demands of us a living 
example of freedom that may contrast, by the felicity 
of her citizens, with the ever-increasing tyranny which 
desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to pre- 
pare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace and 
the persecuted repose. She entreats us to cultivate a 
propitious soil, where that generous plant which first 
sprang up and grew in England, but is now withered 
by the poisonous blasts of Scottish tyranny, may re- 
vive and flourish, sheltering under its salubrious and 
interminable shade all the unfortunate of the human 
race. This is the end presaged by so many omens; 



66 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

by our first victories ; by the present ardor and union ; 
by the flight of Howe, and the pestilence which broke 
out among Dunmore's people ; by the very winds which 
baffled the enemy's fleets and transports, and that 
terrible tempest which engulfed seven hundred vessels 
upon the coast of Newfoundland. 

If we are not this day wanting in our duty to our 
country, the names of the American legislators will 
be placed, by posterity, at the side of those of Theseus, 
of Lycurgus, of Romulus, of Numa, of the three 
Williams of Nassau, and of all those whose memory 
has been and will be forever dear to virtuous men and 
good citizens. 

AN APPEAL FOR AMERICA 

BY WILLIAM PITT (LORD CHATHAM) 
(In Parliament, January 20, 1775) 

My Lords: 

These papers, brought to your table at so late a 
period of this business, tell us what? Why, what all 
the world knew before : that the Americans, irritated 
by repeated injuries, and stripped of their inborn rights 
and dearest privileges, have resisted, and entered into 
associations for the preservation of their common 
liberties. 

Had the early situation of the people of Boston been 
attended to, things would not have come to this. But 
the infant complaints of Boston were literally treated 
like the capricious squalls of a child, who, it is said, 
did not know whether it was aggrieved or not. 

But full well I knew, at that time, that this child, if 



DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE 67 

not redressed, would soon assume the courage and 
voice of a man. Full well I knew that the sons of 
ancestors, born under the same free constitution and 
once breathing the same liberal air as Englishmen, 
would resist upon the same principles and on the same 
occasions. 

What has government done? They have sent an 
armed force consisting of seventeen thousand men, to 
dragoon the Bostonians into what is called their duty ; 
and, so far from once turning their eyes to the policy 
and destructive consequence of this scheme, are con- 
stantly sending out more troops. And we are told, in 
the language of menace, that if seventeen thousand 
men won't do, fifty thousand shall. 

It is true, my lords, with this force they may ravage 
the country, waste and destroy as they march ; but, in 
the progress of fifteen hundred miles, can they occupy 
the places they have passed? Will not a country which 
can produce three millions of people, wronged and 
insulted as they are, start up like hydras in every 
corner, and gather fresh strength from fresh opposi- 
tion? 

Nay, what dependence can you have upon the 
soldiery, the unhappy engines of your wrath? They 
are Englishmen, who must feel for the privileges of 
Englishmen. Do you think that these men can turn 
their arms against their brethren? Surely no. A vic- 
tory must be to them a defeat, and carnage a sacrifice. 

But it is not merely three millions of people, the 
produce of America, we have to contend with in this 
unnatural struggle ; many more are on their side, dis- 
persed over the face of this wide empire. Every Whig 
in this country and in Ireland is with them. 

In this alarming crisis I come with this paper in my 



68 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

hand to offer you the best of my experience and advice ; 
which is, that a humble petition be presented to his 
Majesty, beseeching him that, in order to open the way 
toward a happy settlement of the dangerous troubles in 
America, it may graciously please him that immediate 
orders be given to General Gage for removing his 
Majesty's force from the town of Boston. 

Such conduct will convince America that you mean 
to try her cause in the spirit of freedom and inquiry, 
and not in letters of blood. 

There is no time to be lost. Every hour is big with 
danger. Perhaps, while I am now speaking, the de- 
cisive blow is struck which may involve millions in the 
consequence. And, believe me, the very first drop of 
blood which is shed will cause a wound which may 
never be healed. 

When your lordships look at the papers transmitted 
to us from America, when you consider their firmness, 
decency, and wisdom, you cannot but respect their 
cause and wish to make it your own. For myself, I 
must affirm, declare, and avow that, in all my reading 
and observation (and it has been my favorite study, 
for I have read Thucydides, and have studied and 
admired the master-states of the world), I say, I must 
declare that, for solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, 
and wisdom of conclusion, under such a complication 
of difficult circumstances, no nation or body of men 
can stand in preference to the General Congress at 
Philadelphia. I trust it is obvious to your lordships 
that all attempts to impose servitude upon such men, to 
establish despotism, over such a mighty continental 
nation, must be vain, must be fatal. 

We shall be forced, ultimately, to retract. Let us 
retract while we can, not when we must. I say we 



DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE 69 

must necessarily undo these violent, oppressive acts. 
They Must be repealed. You Will repeal them. I 
pledge myself for it that you will, in the end, repeal 
them. I stake my reputation on it. I will consent to 
be taken for an idiot if they are not finally repealed. 

CONCILIATION OR WAR 

EDMUND BURKE, IN PARLIAMENT, MARCH 22, I775 

We are called again, as it were by a superior warn- 
ing voice, to attend to America, and to review the sub- 
ject with an unusual degree of calmness. Surely, it is 
an awful subject, or there is none this side the grave. 
The proposition is peace ; not peace hunted through the 
medium of war, but peace sought in its natural course, 
in its ordinary haunts, and laid in principles purely 
pacific. I propose to restore the former unsuspecting 
confidence of the colonies in the mother-country, and 
reconcile them each to each. My hold of the colonies 
is in the close affection which grows from common 
names, from kindred blood, from similar privileges 
and equal protection. These are ties which, though 
light as air, are as strong as links of iron. 

Let the colonies always keep the idea of their civil 
rights associated with your government ; they will 
cling and grapple to you, and no force under heaven 
will be of power to tear them from their allegiance. 
But let it once be understood that your government 
may be one thing and their privileges another ; that 
these two things may exist without any mutual rela- 
tion ; and the cement is gone, the cohesion is loosened, 
and everything hastens to decay and dissolution. 

As long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign 



70 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, 
the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, 
wherever the chosen race and sons of England wor- 
ship freedom, they will turn their faces towards you. 
The more they multiply, the more friends you will 
have. The more ardently they love liberty, the more 
perfect will be their obedience. 

Slavery they can have anywhere. It is a weed that 
grows in every soil. They may have it from Spain, 
they may have it from Prussia. But until you become 
lost to all feelings of your true interest and your na- 
tional dignity, freedom they can have from none but 
you. This is the commodity of price, of which you 
have the monopoly. 

This is the true Act of Navigation, which binds to 
you the commerce of the colonies, and through them 
secures to you the wealth of the world. Deny them 
this participation of freedom, and you break that 
sole bond which originally made, and must still pre- 
serve, the unity of the empire. 

Do not entertain so weak an imagination as that 
your registers and your bonds, your affidavits and 
your sufferances, your cockets and your clearances, 
are what form the great securities of your commerce. 
Do not dream that your letters of office, and your in- 
structions, and your suspending clauses, are the things 
that hold together the great contexture of this myste- 
rious whole. 

These things do not make your government, dead 
instruments, passive tools as they are ; it is the spirit 
of the English constitution that gives all their life 
and efficacy to them. It is the spirit of the English 
constitution which, infused, through the mighty mass. 



DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE 71 

pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies every part 
of the empire, even down to the minutest member. 

Is it not the same virtue which does everything for 
us here in England ? Do you imagine, then, that it is 
the land tax which raises your revenue? that it is the 
annual vote in the committee of supply which gives 
you your army? or that it is the mutiny bill which in- 
spires it with bravery and discipline? 

No ! surely no ! It is the love of the people, it is 
their attachment to their government from the sense of 
the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution, 
which gives you your army and your navy, and infuses 
into both that liberal obedience without which your 
army would be a base rabble and your navy nothing 
but rotten timber. 

All this, I know well enough, will sound wild and 
chimerical to the profane herd of those vulgar and 
mechanical politicians who have no place among us ; 
a sort of people who think that nothing exists but 
what is gross and material, and who, therefore, far 
from being qualified to be directors of the great move- 
ment of empire, are not fit to turn a wheel in the ma- 
chine. 

But to men truly initiated and rightly taught, these 
ruling and master principles, which in the opinion of 
such men as I have mentioned have no substantial 
existence, are, in truth, everything and all in all. 
Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wis- 
dom, and a great empire and little minds go ill to- 
gether. If we are conscious of our situation, and glow 
with zeal to fill our place as becomes our station and 
ourselves, we ought to auspicate all our public pro- 
ceedings on America with the old warning of the 



•72 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

church, SursiDii corda!^ We ought to elevate our 
minds to the greatness of that trust to which the order 
of Providence has called us. 

By adverting to the dignity of this high calling, our 
ancestors have turned a savage vvnlderness into a glori- 
ous empire, and have made the most extensive and the 
only honorable conquests, not by destroying, but by 
promoting the wealth, the number, the happiness, of 
the human race. 



"WAR IS ACTUALLY BEGUN" 

BY PATRICK HENRY 

(Mr. Henry in the Convention of Delegates of Virginia, 
March 23, 1775, urges that the colony be immediately put in 
a state of defense.) 

This, sir, is no time for ceremony. The question 
before the house is one of awful moment to this coun- 
try. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less 
than a question of freedom or slavery ; and in propor- 
tion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the 
freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we 
can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great respon- 
sibility which we hold to God and our country. 
Should I keep back my opinions at this time through 
fear of giving ofifense, I should consider myself as 
guilty of treason towards my country and of an act of 
disloyalty towards the majesty of Heaven, which I 
revere above all earthly kings. 

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the 
illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against 

^ Let your hearts rise upward! 



DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE 73 

a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren 
till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of 
wise men engaged in a great and arduous struggle for 
liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of 
those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear 
not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal 
salvation. For my part, whatever anguish of spirit 
it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth ; to 
know the worst, and to provide for it. 

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, 
and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way 
of judging of the future but by the past. And, judg- 
ing by the past, I wish to know what there has been in 
the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten 
years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen 
have been pleased to solace themselves and the house? 
Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has 
been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove 
a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be 
betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourself how this gracious 
reception of our petition comports with those war- 
like preparations which cover our waters and darken 
our land. 

Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love 
and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so 
unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in 
to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, 
sir. These are the implements of war and subjuga- 
tion, the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask, 
sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be 
not to force us to submission? Can the gentlemen 
assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great 
Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world, to call 
for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No. 



74 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

sir, she has none. They are meant for us ; they can 
be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind 
and rivet upon us those chains which the British min- 
istry have been so long forging. 

And what have we to oppose them. Shall we try 
argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last 
ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the 
subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in 
every light of which it is capable, but it has been all in 
vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble suppli- 
cation? What terms shall we find which have not 
been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, 
sir, deceive ourselves longer. 

Sir, we have done everything that could be done to 
avert the storm that is now coming on. We have peti- 
tioned, we have remonstrated, we have supplicated, we 
have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have 
implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical 
hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions 
have been slighted ; our remonstrances have produced 
additional violence and insult ; our supplications have 
been disregarded, and we have been spurned with con- 
tempt from the foot of the throne. 

In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond 
hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer 
any room for hope. If we wish to be free, if we 
mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges 
for which we have been so long contending, if we 
mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in 
which we have been so long engaged, and which we 
have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the 
glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we 
must fight ! I repeat it, sir, we must fight ! An ap- 



DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE 75 

peal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left 
us! 

They tell us, sir, that we are weak — unable to cope 
with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we 
be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next 
year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and 
when a British guard shall be stationed in every house ? 
Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction ? 
Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by 
lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive 
phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound 
us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make 
a proper use of those means which the God of nature 
hath placed in our power. 

Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of 
liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, 
are invincible by any force which our enemy can send 
against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles 
alone. There is a just God who presides over the 
destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to 
fight our battles for us. 

The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone ; it is to the 
vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have 
no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is 
now too late to retire from the contest. There is no 
retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains 
are forged. Their clanking may be heard on the 
plains of Boston! The war is inevitable, and let it 
come ! I repeat it, sir, let it come ! 

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentle- 
men may cry peace, peace, but there is no peace. The 
war has actually begun! The next gale that sweeps 



76 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

from the north will bring to our ears the clash of 
resounding arms ! Our brethren are already in the 
field ! Why stand we here idle ? What is it that the 
gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so 
dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the 
price of chains and slavery? Forbid it. Almighty 
God ! I know not what course others may take, but 
as for me, give me liberty or give me death! 



EMANCIPATION FROM BRITISH 
DEPENDENCE 

BY PHILIP FRENEAU 

{The follozving note in explanation of proper names, 
etc., in this poem is copied from Dnyckinck's edi- 
tion of Frenean.) 

Note. — Sir James Wallace, Admiral Graves, and Captain 
Montague, were British naval officers, employed on our coast. 
The Viper and Rose were vessels in the service. Lord Dun- 
more, the last royal governor of Virginia, had recently in 
April, 1775, removed the public stores from Williamsburg, 
and, in conjunction with a party of adherents, supported by 
the naval force on the station, was making war on the prov- 
ince. William Tryon, the last Royal governor of New York, 
informed of a resolution of the Continental Congress: 
" That it be recommended to the several provincial assemblies 
in conventions and councils, or committees of safety, to 
arrest and secure every person in their respective colonies 
whose going at large may, in their opinion, endanger the 
safety of the colony or the liberties of America," discerning 
the signs of the times, took refuge on board the Halifax 
packet in the harbor, and left the city in the middle of 
October, 1775. 



DAWN OF INDEPENDENCE ^^ 

Libera nos, Domine — Deliver us, O Lord, 
Not only from British dependence, but also, 

From a junto that labor for absolute power, 

Whose schemes disappointed have made them look 
sour ; 

From the lords of the council, who fight against free- 
dom 

Who still follow on where delusion shall lead 'em. 

From groups at St. James's who slight our Petitions, 
And fools that are waiting for further submissions ; 
From a nation whose manners are rough and abrupt, 
From scoundrels and rascals whom gold can corrupt. 

From pirates sent out by command of the king 
To murder and plunder, but never to swing ; 
From Wallace, and Graves, and Vipers and Roses, 
Whom, if Heaven pleases, we'll give bloody noses. 

From the valiant Dunmore, with his crew of banditti 
Who plunder Virginians at Williamsburg city, 
From hot-headed Montague, mighty to swear. 
The little fat man with his pretty white hair. 

From bishops in Britain, who butchers are grown, 
From slaves that would die for a smile from the throne, 
From assemblies that vote against Congress' proceed- 
ings, 
(Who now see the fruit of their stupid misleadings). 

From Tryon, the mighty, who flies from our city, 
And swelled with importance, disdains the committee ; 
(But since he is pleased to proclaim us his foes, 
What the devil care we where the devil he goes.) 



78 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

From the caitiff, Lord North, who could bind us in 

chains, 
From our noble King Log, with his toothful of brains, 
Who dreams, and is certain (when taking a nap) 
He has conquered our lands as they lay on his map. 

From a kingdom that bullies, and hectors, and swears, 
I send up to Heaven my wishes and prayers 
That we, disunited, may freemen be still, 
And Britain go on — to be damn'd if she will. 



IV 

THE DECLARATION 



THE ORIGIN OF THE DECLARATION . 

BY SYDNEY GEORGE FISHER 

Besides the semi-independent character of their 
political governments, there were other circumstances 
which tended to inspire a large part of the colonists 
with a strong passion for independence, and led them 
to resist with unusual energy the remodeling plans 
which England began in 1764. 

The sturdy influences of Protestanism and American 
life had, however, not so great an effect on that large 
body of people called loyalists, whose numbers have 
been variously estimated at from one-third to over half 
the population. They remained loyal to England, and 
were so far from being inspired with a love of inde- 
pendence that they utterly detested the whole patriot 
cause and sacrificed their property and lives in the 
effort to stamp out its principles and put in their place 
the British empire method of alien control as the best 
form of government for America. 

Patriot parties have existed in other countries with- 
out the aid of the particular influences which Burke 
described. The love of national independence is, in 
fact, the most difficult passion to eradicate, as the Irish, 
the Poles, and other broken nationalities bear wit- 
ness. The desire for independence is natural to all 

1 From " The Struggle for American Independence," by 
Sydney George Fisher, J. B. Lippincott & Co., Publishers, 
1908. 

81 



82 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

vigorous communities, is generally regarded as more 
manlike and honorable than dependence, and usually 
springs up spontaneously whether in Holland, Switzer- 
land or America, in spite of the commercial and con- 
servative influences of loyalism. But, nevertheless, the 
influences mentioned by Burke, and several that he 
did not mention, had no doubt considerable effect in 
creating the patriot party in America and inspiring it 
with enthusiasm and energy. 

The self-confidence aroused in the colonists by their 
success in subduing the wilderness, felling the vast 
forests, hunting the wild game and still wilder red men, 
has often been given as a cause of the Revolution and 
the American love of independence. Eloquence is 
easily tempted to enlarge upon such causes, and to 
describe in romantic language the hunter and the 
woodsman, the farmer in the fresh soil of primeval 
forests, the fishermen of the Grand Banks, the mer- 
chants and sailors who traded with the whole world 
in defiance of the British navigation laws, and the 
crews of the whaling ships that pursued their dan- 
gerous game from the equator to the poles. 

The American lawyers, according to Burke, were an 
important cause of the Revolution. They were very 
numerous in the colonies ; law and theories of govern- 
ment were much read and studied, and the people were 
trained to discussion of political rights as well as of 
religious doctrine. Burke described in picturesque de- 
tail how, in the South, the ruling class lived scattered 
and remote from one another, maintaining themselves 
in self-reliant authority on plantations with hun- 
dreds of slaves ; and slavery, he said, inspired in the 
white master a fierce love of independence for himself 
and an undying dread of any form of the bondage 



THE DECLARATION 83 

which his love of gain had inflicted on a weaker 
race. 

The geographical position of the thirteen contiguous 
colonies, so situated that they could easily unite and 
act together, and having a population that was in- 
creasing so rapidly that it seemed likely in a few years 
to exceed the population of England, was possibly a 
more effective cause of the Revolution than any of 
those that have been named. The consciousness of 
possessing such a vast fertile continent, which within 
a few generations would support more than double the 
population of little England, furnished a profound en- 
couragement for theories of independence. People 
in England were well aware of this feeling in the colo- 
nies, and Joshua Gee, a popular writer on political 
economy in 1738, tried to quiet their fears. Some, he 
said, were objecting that " if we encourage the Plan- 
tations they will grow rich and set up for themselves 
and cast off the English government " ; and he went 
on to show that this fear was groundless because the 
colonists nearly all lived on the navigable rivers and 
bays of America, where the British navy could easily 
reach and subdue them. He also attempted to argue 
away the advantage of the contiguous situation of 
the colonies and described them as split up into a dozen 
or more separate provinces, each with its own gov- 
ernor ; and it was inconceivable, he said, that such 
diverse communities would be able to unite against 
England. 

English statesmen, however, saw the danger of 
union among the colonies long before the outbreak of 
the Revolution ; and they shrewdly rejected the plan 
of union of the Albany conference of 1754; and in the 
Revolution itself a large part of England's diplomatic 



84 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

and military efforts were directed towards breaking up 
the easy communication among the colonies. 

In modern times England's colonies have been widely 
separated from one another. There has been no large 
and rapidly increasing white population on contiguous 
territory with ability for union. The dark-skinned 
population of India is enormous in numbers, but in- 
capable of the united action of the Americans of 1776, 
and India is not considered a colony but a territory con- 
tinuously held by overwhelming military force. In- 
stead of a colonial population which threatened in a 
short time to outnumber her own people, England's 
power and population have, in modern times, grown 
far beyond any power or population in her well-scat- 
tered white colonies. 

The colonists at the time of the Revolution have 
often been described as speaking of England as home 
and regardtng the mother-country with no little degree 
of affection ; ^nd while there is no doubt some truth 
in this, especially as regards the people who were 
loyalists, yet a' very large proportion of the colonists 
had become, totally differentiated from the people of 
England. This was the inevitable result of having 
lived for over a hundred years in the American en- 
vironment. They were no longer Englishmen. They 
had become completely Americanized. Certain 
classes kept up their connection with England, and 
many of the rich planters of the South sent their sons 
to England to be educated. But a very large part of 
the colonists, especially in the older settled provinces, 
like Massachusetts and Virginia, had forgotten Eng- 
land and were another people. 

Instead of speaking, as novelists often describe 
them, in a formal archaic way, using quaint phrases of 



THE DECLARATION 85 

old English life, the colonists spoke with mannerisms 
and colloquial slang which were peculiarly American. 
These peculiarities were ridiculed by Englishmen of 
the time and formed part of Grant's famous speech in 
Parliament, the burden of which appears to have been 
that the colonists had become entirely different from 
English people, and Grant is said to have given imita- 
tions of what he considered their strange speech and 
manners. Mrs. Knight, in her Journal of Travel from 
Boston to New York, had, many years before the 
Revolution, given specimens of this difference ; and the 
language of the New Englanders which she describes 
was certainly not like anything in England. 

" Law for me — v»^hat in the world brings you here 
at this time of night? I never see a woman on the 
Rode so Dreadful late in all the days of my versall life. 
Who are you? Where are you going?" — Mrs. 
Knight's Journal, p. 23. 

In 1775 some one wrote a set of humorous verses, 
said to have been the original Yankee Doodle song, 
to illustrate the colloquial Americanism of the time. 
" Slapping " was used for " large," as in the phrase 
" a slapping stallion." " Nation " was used for " a 
great deal," as in such a phrase as " only a nation 
louder." " Tarnal " was used for " very." " I see " 
was used for " I saw," " I come " for " I came," and 
" I hooked it off " in place of " I went away." 

Not only did the patriots feel themselves to be quite 
different from Englishmen, but they had a conscious- 
ness of ability and power, the result of having governed 
themselves so long in their tov/ns, counties, and prov- 
inces, and of having carried on a commerce of their 
own in defiance of the English navigation laws. They 
felt that they, not Englishmen, had created the coun- 



86 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

try ; and they had a resohitc intention to develop its 
future greatness in their own way without the advice 
of aHens across three thousand miles of ocean. 

This high contidcnce, which was a conspicuous mo- 
tive in the patriot party, was always ridiculed by the 
loyalists as mere bumptiousness and conceit. It was 
difficult for a loyalist to understand how any one could 
seriously put himself in opposition to the British em- 
pire or want any form of government except the 
British constitution. But the patriot estimate of their 
own ability was by no means an exaggeration. They 
could be overcome, of course, as the Boer republics 
and other peoples have been overcome, by the superior 
numbers or wealth of Great Britain. But the history of 
the Revolution disclosed qualities in which the Ameri- 
cans notoriously excelled Europeans as well as the 
Anglo-Saxon stock in England from which they were 
derived. They were of keener practical intelligence, 
more promptness in action, more untiring energy, more 
originality in enterprise, better courage and endurance, 
and more natural military skill among the rank and 
file. These distinctively American qualities, we now 
call them, seem to have been much more in evidence 
among the patriot party than among the loyalists. 

Every circumstance of their past and every consid- 
eration of their present convinced the patriot of the 
infinite pleasure and value of home rule and they had 
codified their opinions into a political philosophy 
which not only justified their semi-independence and 
disregard of acts of Parliament, but would also justify 
them in breaking off from England, at the first op- 
portunity and becoming absolutely independent. They 
had gathered this philosophy from the works of cer- 
tain European writers — Grotius, PuflFendorf, Locke, 



THE DECLAR/ 87 

Burlamaqui, Beccaria, Montesquieu, i.d others — 
who had apphed to poHtics and government the doc- 
trines of rehgious Hberty and the right of private 
judgment which had been developed by the Reforma- 
tion. Being such extreme Protestants, and having car- 
ried so far the rehgious ideas of the Reformation, the 
colonists naturally accepted in their fullest meaning the 
political principles of the Reformation. If we are 
looking for profound influences in the Revolution, it 
would be difficult to find any that were stronger than 
two of the writers just mentioned, Locke and Bur- 
lamaqui, whose books had a vast effect in the break-up 
of the British empire which we are about to record. 

Beginning with Grotius, who was born in 1582, and 
ending with Montesquieu, who died in 1755, the writers 
mentioned covered a period of about two hundred 
years of political investigation, thought and experience. 
In fact, they covered the period since the Reforma- 
tion. They represented the effect of the Reformation 
on political thought. They represented also all those 
nations whose opinions on such subjects were worth 
anything. Grotius was a Dutchman, Puffendorf a 
German, Locke an Englishman, Burlamaqui an Italian 
Swiss, and Montesquieu a Frenchman. 

Hooker, who lived from 1553 to 1600, and whom 
Locke cites so freely, might be included in the number, 
and that would make the period quite two hundred 
years. Hooker, in his " Ecclesiastical Polity," de- 
clared very emphatically that governments could not be 
legitimate unless they rested on the consent of the 
governed ; and this principle forms the foundation of 
Locke's famous essays. 

There vv^ere, of course, other minor writers ; and the 
colonists relied upon them all; but seldom troubled 



88 ZNDENCE DAY 

themselves to ad the works of the earlier ones, or to 
read Hutchinson, Clarke and other followers of that 
school, because Locke, Burlamaqui, and Beccaria had 
summarized them all and brought them down to date. 
To this day any one going to the Philadelphia Library, 
and asking for No. J'], can take in his hands the iden- 
tical, well-worn volume of Burlamaqui which delegates 
to the Congress and many an unsettled Philadelphian 
read with earnest, anxious minds. It was among the 
first books that the library had obtained ; and perhaps 
the most important and effective book it has ever 
owned. 

The rebellious colonists also read Locke's " Two 
Treatises on Government " with much profit and satis- 
faction to themselves. Locke was an extreme Whig, 
an English revolutionist of the school of 1688. Be- 
fore that great event, he had been unendurable to the 
royalists, who were in power, and had been obliged to 
spend a large part of his time on the continent. In 
the preface of his " Two Treatises," he says that they 
will show how entirely legitimate is the title of William 
III to the throne, because it is established on the con- 
sent of the people. That is the burden of his whole 
argument — the consent of the people as the only true 
foundation of government. That principle sank so 
deep into the minds of the patriot colonists that it was 
the foundation of all their political thought, and be- 
came an essentially American idea. 

Becarria, who, like Burlamaqui, was an Italian, also 
exercised great influence on the colonists. His fa- 
mous book, " Crimes and Punishments," was also a 
short, concise, but very eloquent volume. It caused a 
great stir in the world. The translation circulated in 
America had added to it a characteristic commentary 



THE DECLARATION 89 

by Voltaire. Beccaria, though not writing directly on 
the subject of liberty, necessarily included that subject, 
because he dealt with the administration of the crim- 
inal law. His plea for more humane and just punish- 
ments, and for punishments more in proportion to the 
offense, found a ready sympathy among the Ameri- 
cans, who had already revolted in disgust from the 
brutality and extravagant cruelty of the English 
criminal code. 

But Beccaria also stated most beautifully and clearly 
the essential principles of liberty. His foundation doc- 
trine, that " every act of authority of one man over 
another for which there is not absolute necessity is 
tyrannical," made a most profound impression in 
America. He laid down also the principle that " in 
every human society there is an effort continually tend- 
ing to confer on one part the highest power and happi- 
ness, and to reduce the other to the extreme of weak- 
ness and misery." That sentence became the life-long 
guide of many Americans. It became a constituent 
part of the minds of Jefferson and Hamilton. It can 
be seen as the foundation, the connecting strand, run- 
ning all through the essays of the Federalist. It was 
the inspiration of the " checks and balances " in the 
national Constitution. It can be traced in American 
thought and legislation down to the present time. 

Burlamaqui's book, devoted exclusively to the sub- 
ject of liberty and independence, is still one of the best 
expositions of the true doctrines of natural law, or the 
rights of man. At the time of the Revolution these 
rights of man were often spoken of as our rights as 
men, which is a very descriptive phrase, because the 
essence of those rights is political manhood, honorable 
self-reliance as opposed to degenerate dependence. 



90 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Burlamaqui belonged to a Protestant family that 
had once lived at Lucca, Italy ; but had been compelled, 
like the family of Turretini, and many others, to take 
refuge in Switzerland. He became a professor at 
Geneva, which gave him the reputation of a learned 
man. lie also became a counselor of state and was 
noted for his practical sagacity. He had intended to 
write a great work in many volumes on the subject to 
which he had devoted so much of his life, " The Prin- 
ciples of Natural Law," as it was then called. Ill 
health preventing such a huge task, he prepared a 
single volume, which he said was only for beginners 
and students, because it dealt with the bare elements 
of the science in the simplest and plainest language. 

This little book was translated into English in 1748, 
and contained only three hundred pages ; but in that 
small space of large, clear type, Burlamaqui com- 
pressed ever3^thing that the patriot colonists wanted 
to know. He was remarkably clear and concise, and 
gave the Americans the qualities of the Italian mind 
at its best. He aroused them by his modern glow- 
ing thought and his enthusiasm for progress and 
liberty. His handy little volume was vastly more ef- 
fective and far-reaching than would have been the 
blunderbuss he had intended to load to the muzzle. 

If we examine the volumes of Burlamaqui's pred- 
ecessors, Grotius, Pufifendorf, and the others, we 
find their statements about natural law and our rights 
as men rather brief, vague, and general, as is usual 
with the old writers on any science. Burlamaqui 
brought them down to date, developed their prin- 
ciples, and swept in the results of all the thought and 
criticism since their day. 

The term natural law, which all these writers used, 



THE DECLARATION 91 

has long since gone out of fashion. They used it 
because, inspired by the Reformation, they were strug- 
gHng to get away from the arbitrary system, the 
artificial scholasticism, the despotism of the middle 
ages. They were seeking to obtain for law and gov- 
ernment a foundation which should grow out of the 
nature of things, the common facts of life that every- 
body understood. They sought a system that, be- 
ing natural, would become established and eternal like 
nature ; a system that would displace that thing of the 
middle ages which they detested, and called " arbi- 
trary institution." 

Let us, they said, contemplate for a time man as 
he is in himself, the natural man, his wants and re- 
quirements. 

" The only way," said Burlamaqui, " to attain to 
the knowledge of that natural law is to consider at- 
tentively the nature and constitution of man, the re- 
lations he has to the beings that surround him, and 
the states from thence resulting. In fact, the very 
term of natural law and the notion we have given of 
it, show that the principles of this science must 
be taken from the very nature and constitution of 
man." 

Men naturally, he said, draw together to form 
societies for mutual protection and advantage. Their 
natural state is a state of union and society, and 
these societies are merely for the common advantage 
of all of the members. 

This was certainly a very simple proposition, but 
it had required centuries to bring men's minds back 
to it ; and it was not altogether safe to put forth be- 
cause it implied that each community existed for the 
benefit of itself, for the benefit of its members, and 



92 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

not for the benefit of a prince or another nation, or 
for the church, or for an empire. 

It was a principle quickly seized upon by the 
Americans as soon as their difficulties began in 1764. 
In their early debates and discussions we hear a great 
deal about a " state of nature," which at first seems 
rather meaningless to us. But it was merely their 
attempt to apply to themselves the fundamental prin- 
ciples of the Reformation. Were the colonies by the 
exactions and remodeling of the mother-country 
thrown into that " state of nature," where they could 
reorganize society afresh, on the basis of their own 
advantage? How much severity or how much op- 
pression or dissatisfaction would bring about this 
state of nature? Was there any positive rule by 
which you could decide? Patrick Henry, who was 
always very eloquent on the subject, declared that 
the boundary had been passed ; that the colonies were 
in a state of nature. 

Any one who is at all familiar with the trend of 
thought for the last hundred years can readily see how 
closely this idea of going back to natural causes and 
first conceptions for the discovery of political prin- 
ciples is allied to every kind of modern progress ; to 
the modern study of natural history, the study of 
the plants and animals in their natural environment, 
instead of by preconceived scholastic theories ; the 
study of the human body by dissection instead of by 
supposition; the study of heat, light, electricity, the 
soil, the rocks, the ocean, the stars by actual observa- 
tion, without regard to what the Scriptures and 
learned commentators had to say. 

A large part of the American colonists were very 
far advanced in all the ideas of the Reformation. 



THE DECLARATION 93 

Burlamaqui's book, applying to politics and govern- 
ment, these free and wonderful principles, came to 
a large number of them as the most soul-stirring and 
mind-arousing message they had ever heard. It has 
all become trite enough to us ; but to them it was 
fresh and marvelous. Their imaginations seized on 
it with the indomitable energy and passion which the 
climate inspired, and some who breathed the air of 
Virginia and Massachusetts were on fire with en- 
thusiasm. 

" This state of nature," argued Burlamaqui, " is not 
the work of man, but established by divine institu- 
tion." 

" Natural society is a state of equality and liberty ; 
a state in which all men enjoy the same prerogatives, 
and an entire independence on any other power but 
God. For every man is naturally master of himself, 
and equal to his fellow-creatures so long as he does 
not subject himself to another person's authority by 
a particular convention." 

Here we find coupled with liberty that word equal- 
ity which played such a tremendous part in history 
for the succeeding hundred years. And we must bear 
in mind that what the people of that time meant by 
it was political equality, equality of rights, equality 
before the law and the government ; and not equality 
of ability, talents, fortunes, or gifts, as some have 
fancied. 

Burlamaqui not only found liberty, independence, 
and equality growing out of nature itself ; but he 
argued that all this was part of the divine plan, the 
great order of nature and the universe. Indeed, that 
was what he and his Reformation predecessors had 
set out to discover, to unravel the system of humanity, 



94 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

to see if there really was a system that could be 
gathered from the actual plain facts ; and to see also 
if there was a unity and completeness in this system. 

" The human understanding," he says, " is naturally 
right, and has within itself a strength sufficient to ar- 
rive at the knowledge of truth, and to distinguish it 
from error." That he announces as the fundamental 
principle of his book, " the hinge whereon the whole 
system of humanity turns," and it was simply his way 
of restating the great doctrine of the Reformation, 
the right of private judgment. 

But he goes on to enlarge on it in a way particularly 
pleasing to the patriot colonists, for he says we have 
this power to decide for ourselves, " especially in 
things wherein our respective duties are concerned." 

" Yes," said the colonists, " we have often thought 
that we were the best judges of all our own affairs." 

" Those who feel," said Franklin, in his examina- 
tion before Parliament, " can best judge." 

The daring Burlamaqui went on to show that liberty 
instead of being, as some supposed, a privilege to be 
graciously accorded, was in reality a universal right, 
inherent in the nature of things. 

Then appears that idea common to the great leaders 
of thought in that age, that man's true purpose in 
the world is the pursuit of happiness. To this pur- 
suit, they said, every human being has a complete 
right. It was part of liberty ; a necessary conse- 
quence of liberty. This principle of the right to pur- 
sue happiness, which is merely another way of stating 
the right of self -development, has played as great a 
part in subsequent history as equality. It is one of 
the foundation principles of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. It is given there as the ground-work of 



THE DECLARATION 95 

the right of revolution, the right of a people to throw 
off or destroy a power which interferes with this 
great pursuit, " and to institute a new government, lay- 
ing its foundation on such principles, and organizing 
its power in such form as to them shall seem most 
likely to effect their safety and happiness." 

It has been interpreted in all sorts of ways — as 
the right to improve your condition, to develop your 
talents, to grow rich, or to rise into the class of society 
above you. It is now in its broadest meaning so 
axiomatic in this country that Americans can hardly 
realize that it was ever disputed. 

But it was, and still is, disputed in England and on 
the continent. Even so liberal an Englishman as 
Kingsley resented with indignation the charge that he 
favored the aspiration of the lower classes to change 
their condition. Once a cobbler, remain a cobbler, 
and be content to be a good cobbler. In other words, 
the righteousness which he so loudly professed was in- 
tended to exalt certain fortunate individuals, and not 
to advance society. 

This desire and pursuit of happiness being part of 
nature, or part of the system of Providence, and as 
essential to every man and as inseparable from him 
as his reason, it should be freely allowed him, and 
not repressed. This, Burlamaqui declares, is a great 
principle, " the key of the human system," opening 
to vast consequences for the world. 

The consequences have certainly been vaster than 
he dreamed of. Millions of people now live their 
daily life in the sunshine of this doctrine. Millions 
have fled to us from Europe to seek its protection. 
Not only the whole American system of laws, but 
whole philosophies and codes of conduct have grown 



96 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

up under it. The abolitionists appealed to it, and 
freed six millions of slaves. The transcendental 
philosophy of New England, that extreme and beauti- 
ful attempt to develop conscience, nobility, and char- 
acter from within ; that call of the great writers like 
Lowell to every humble individual to stand by his 
own personality, fear it not, advance it by its own 
lines ; even our education, the elective system of our 
colleges — all these things have followed under that 
" pursuit of happiness," which the patriot colonists 
seized upon so gladly in 1765 and enshrined in their 
Declaration of Independence in 1776. 

They found in the principles of natural law how 
government, civil society, or " sovereignty," as those 
writers were apt to call it, was to be built up and 
regulated. Civil government did not destroy natural 
rights and the pursuit of happiness. On the contrary, 
it was intended to give those rights greater security 
and a fresh force and efificiency. That was the pur- 
pose men had in coming together to form a civil 
society for the benefit of all ; that was the reason, as 
Burlamaqui put it, that " the sovereign became the 
depositary, as it were, of the will and strength of each 
individual." 

This seemed very satisfactory to some of the colo- 
nists. You choose your sovereign, your government, 
for yourself, and make it your mere depositary or 
agent. Then as to the nature of the government, the 
right to govern, they were very much pleased to find 
that the only right there was of this sort was the 
right of each community to govern itself. Govern- 
ment by outside power was absolutely indefensible, 
because the notion that there was a divine right in 
one set of people to rule over others was exploded 



THE DECLARATION 97 

nonsense, and the assertion that mere might or su- 
perior power necessarily gave such right was equally 
indefensible. There remained only one plausible rea- 
son, and that was that superior excellence, wisdom, or 
ability might possibly give such right. 

As to this " superior excellence " theory, if you 
admitted it you denied man's inherent right to liberty, 
equality and the pursuit of happiness; you denied 
his moral accountability and responsibility ; you crip- 
pled his independent development, his self-develop- 
ment, his individual action; in a word, you destroyed 
the whole natural system. 

Because a man is inferior to another is no reason 
why he should surrender his liberty, his accountability, 
his chance for self-development, to the superior. We 
do not surrender our property to the next man who 
is richer or an abler business manager. Our in- 
feriority does not give him a right over us. On the 
contrary, the inferiority of the inferior man is an ad- 
ditional reason why he should cling to all those rights 
of nature which have been given to him, that he may 
have wherewithal to raise himself, and be alone ac- 
countable for himself. Or, as Burlamaqui briefly 
summarized it : 

" The knowledge I have of the excellency of a su- 
perior does not alone afford me a motive sufficient to 
subject myself to him, and to induce me to abandon 
my own will in order to take his for my rule ; . . . 
and without any reproach of conscience I may sin- 
cerely judge that the intelligent principle within me 
is sufficient to direct my conduct." 

Only the people, Burlamaqui explained, have in- 
herent inalienable rights ; and they alone can confer 
the privilege of commanding. It had been supposed 



98 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

that the sovereign alone had rights, and the people 
only privileges. But here were Burlamaqui, Pufifen- 
dorf, Montesquieu, Locke, and fully half the Ameri- 
can colonists, undertaking to reverse this order and 
announcing that the people alone had rights, and the 
sovereign merely privileges. 

These principles the Americans afterwards trans- 
lated in their documents by the phrase, " a just gov- 
ernment exists only by consent of the governed." 
All men being born politically equal, the colonies, as 
Dickinson and Hamilton explained, are equally with 
Great Britain entitled to happiness, equally entitled to 
govern themselves, equally entitled to freedom and in- 
dependence. 

It is curious to see the cautious way in which some 
of the colonists applied these doctrines by mixing 
them up with loyalty arguments. This is very notice- 
able in the pamphlets written by Alexander Hamilton. 
He gives the stock arguments for redress of grievances, 
freedom from internal taxation, government by the 
king alone, and will not admit that he is anything 
but a loyal subject. At the same time there runs 
through all he says an undercurrent of strong rebellion 
which leads to his ultimate object. " The power," he 
says, " which one society bestows upon any man or 
body of men can never extend beyond its own limits." 
This he lays down as a universal truth, independently 
of charters and the wonderful British Constitution. 
It applied to the whole world. Parliament was 
elected by the people of England, therefore it had no 
authority outside of the British isle. That British 
isle and America were separate societies. 

" Nature," said Hamilton, " has distributed an 
equality of rights to every man." How then, he 



THE DECLARATION 99 

asked, can the English people have any rights over 
life, liberty, or property in America? They can have 
authority only among themselves in England. We are 
separated from Great Britain, Hamilton argued, not 
only by the ocean, by geography, but because we have 
no part or share in governing her. Therefore, as 
we have no share in governing her, she, by the law 
of nature, can have no share in governing us ; she is 
a separate society. 

The British, he said, were attempting to involve in 
the idea of a colony the idea of political slavery, and 
against that a man must fight with his life. To be 
controlled by the superior wisdom of another nation 
was ridiculous, unworthy of the consideration of man- 
hood; and at this point he used that sentence which 
has so often been quoted — " Deplorable is the condi- 
tion of that people who have nothing else than the 
wisdom and justice of another to depend upon." 

Charters and documents, he declared, must yield to 
natural laws and our rights as men. 

" The sacred rights of man are not to be rummaged 
for among old parchments or musty records. They 
are written as with a sunbeam in the whole volume 
of human nature by the hand of divinity itself and 
can never be erased by mortal power." 

The Declaration of Independence was an epitome 
of these doctrines of natural law applied to the colo- 
nies. The Declaration of Independence originated in 
these doctrines, and not in the mind of Jefferson, as 
so many people have absurdly supposed. In order to 
see how directly the Declaration was an outcome of 
these teachings we have only to read its opening 
paragraphs : 

" When, in the course of human events, it becomes 



loo INDEPENDENCE DAY 

necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 
which have connected them with another, and to as- 
sume, among the powers of the earth, the separate 
and equal station to which the laws of nature and 
of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to 
the opinions of mankind requires that they should 
declare the causes which impel them to the separa- 
tion. 

" We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all 
men are created equal ; that they are endowed by 
their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that 
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of hap- 
piness. That, to secure these rights, governments are 
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from 
the consent of the governed ; that, whenever any form 
of government becomes destructive of these ends, it 
is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and 
to institute a new government, laying its foundation 
on such principles, and organizing its powers in such 
form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their 
safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate 
that governments long estalilished should not be 
changed for light and transient causes ; and, accord- 
ingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are 
more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than 
to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which 
they are accustomed." 

By understanding the writings of Burlamaqui, 
Locke, and Beccaria, which the colonists were study- 
ing so intently, we know the origin of the Declara- 
tion, and need not flounder in the dark, as so many 
have done, wondering where it came from, or how it 
was that Jefferson could have invented it. Being un- 
willing to take the trouble of examining carefully the 



THE DECLARATION loi 

influences which preceded the Declaration, historical 
students are sometimes surprised to find a document 
like the Virginia Bill of Rights or the supposed 
Mecklenburg resolutions, issued before the Declara- 
tion and yet containing the same principles. They in- 
stantly jump to the conclusion that here is the real 
origin and author of the Declaration, and from this 
JefYerson stole his ideas. 

Jefferson merely drafted the Declaration. Neither 
he, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, nor Livingston, who 
composed the committee which was responsible for it, 
ever claimed any originality for its principles. They 
were merely stating principles which were already 
familiar to the people, which had been debated over 
and over again in Congress ; which were so familiar 
in fact, that they stated them rather carelessly and 
took too much for granted. It would have been bet- 
ter, instead of saying, " all men are created equal," 
to have said that all men are created politically equal, 
which was what they meant, and what every one at 
that time understood. By leaving out the word " po- 
litically " they gave an opportunity to a generation 
unfamiliar with the doctrines of natural law to sup- 
pose that they meant that all men are created, or 
should be made, equal in conditions, opportunities or 
talents. 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

BY JOHN D. LONG 

Recall the quaint and homely city of Philadelphia, 
the gloom that hung over it from the terrible responsi- 
bility of the step there taken, the modest hall still 



I02 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

standing and baptized as the Cradle of Liberty. On 
its tower swung the bell which yet survives with its 
legend, — " Proclaim liberty throughout all the world 
to all the inhabitants thereof." That day it rang out 
a proclamation of liberty that will indeed echo round 
the world and in the ears of all the inhabitants thereof 
long after the bell itself shall have crumbled into 
dust. 

Hancock is in the president's chair ; before him sit 
the half-hundred delegates who at that time repre- 
sent America. Among the names it is remarkable 
how many there are that have since been famous in 
our annals. The committee appointed to draft the 
declarations are Jefferson, youngest and tallest ; John 
Adams ; Sherman, shoemaker ; Franklin, printer ; and 
Robert R. Livingston. If the patriot, Samuel Adams, 
at the sunrise of Lexington could say, — " Oh, what 
a glorious morning!" how well might he have re- 
newed in the more brilliant noontime of July 4, 1776, 
the same prophetic words ! 

There is nothing in the prophecies of old more 
striking and impressive than the words of John Adams, 
who declared the event would be celebrated by suc- 
ceeding generations as a great anniversary festival 
and commemorated as a day of deliverance, from one 
end of the continent to the other; that through all 
the gloom he could see the light; that the end was 
worth all the means and that posterity would triumph 
in the transaction. I am not of those who overrate 
the past. I know that the men of 1776 had the com- 
mon weaknesses and shortcomings of humanity. I 
read the Declaration of Independence with no feel- 
ing of awe; and yet if I were called upon to select 
from the history of the world any crisis grander. 



THE DECLARATION 103 

loftier, purer, more heroic, I should not know where 
to turn. 

It seems simple enough to-day, but it was some- 
thing else in that day. The men who signed the 
Declaration knew not but they were signing warrants 
for their own ignominious execution on the gibbet. 
The bloody victims of the Jacobite rebellions of 171 5 
and 1745 were still a warning to rebels; and the gory 
holocaust of Culloden was fresh in the memory. But 
it was not only the personal risk; it was risking the 
homes, the commerce, the lives, the property, the 
honor, the future destiny of three million innocent 
people, — men, women, and children. It was defying 
on behalf of a straggling chain of colonies clinging 
to the sea-board, the most imperial power of the world. 
It was, more than all, like Columbus sailing into 
awful uncertainty of untried space, casting off from 
an established and familiar form of government and 
politics, drifting away to unknown methods, and upon 
the dangerous and yawning chaos of democratic in- 
stitutions, flying from ills they had to those they knew 
not of, and perhaps laying the way for a miserable 
and bloody catastrophe in anarchy and riot. 

There are times when ordinary men are borne by 
the tide of an occasion to crests of grandeur in con- 
duct and action. Such a time, such an occasion, was 
that of the Declaration. While the signers were 
picked men, none the less true is it that their extraor- 
dinary fame is due not more to their merits than to 
the crisis at which they were at the helm and to the 
great popular instinct which they obeyed and ex- 
pressed. And why do we commemorate with such 
veneration and display this special epoch and event in 
our history? Why do we repeat the words our 



I04 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

fathers spoke or wrote? Why cherish their names, 
when our civihzation is better than theirs and when 
we have reached in science, art, education, religion, 
poHtics, in every phase of human development, even in 
morals, a higher level ? 

It is because we recognize that in their beginnings 
the eternal elements of truth and right and justice 
were conspicuous. To those eternal verities we pay 
our tribute, and not to their surroundings, except so 
far as we let the form stand for the spirit, the man 
for the idea, the event for the purpose. And it is 
also because we can do no better work than to per- 
petuate virtue in the citizen by keeping always fresh 
in the popular mind the great heroic deeds and times 
of our history. The valuable thing in the past is not 
the man or the events, — which are both always 
ordinary and which under the enchantment of dis- 
tance and the pride of descent, we love to surround 
with exaggerated glory, — it is rather in the senti- 
ment for which the man and the event stand. The 
ideal is alone substantial and alone survives. 

THE SIGNING OF THE DECLARATION 

BY GEORGE LIPPARD 

It is a cloudless summer day ; a clear blue sky 
arches and expands above a quaint edifice rising among 
the giant trees in the center of a wide city. That 
edifice is built of plain red brick, with heavy window 
frames, and a massive hall door. 

Such is the State House of Philadelphia in the year 
of our Lord 1776. 

In yonder wooden steeple, which crowns the summit 



THE DECLARATION 105 

of that red brick State House, stands an old man with 
snow-white hair and sunburnt face. He is clad in 
humble attire, yet his eye gleams as it is fixed on 
the ponderous outline of the bell suspended in the 
steeple there. By his side, gazing into his sunburnt 
face in wonder, stands a flaxen-haired boy, with laugh- 
ing eyes of summer blue. The old man ponders for 
a moment upon the strange words written upon the 
bell, then, gathering the boy in his arms, he speaks: 
" Look here, my child ; will you do this old man a 
kindness? Then hasten down the stairs, and wait in 
the hall below till a man gives you a message for 
me ; when he gives you that word, run out into the 
street and shout it up to me. Do you mind ? " The 
boy sprang from the old man's arms and threaded his 
way down the dark stairs. 

Many minutes passed. The old bell-keeper was 
alone. " Ah ! " groaned the old man, " he has for- 
gotten me." As the word was upon his lips a merry, 
ringing laugh broke on his ^^ar. And there, among 
the crowd on the pavement, stood the blue-eyed boy, 
clapping his tiny hands while the breeze blew his flaxen 
hair all about his face, and, swelling his little chest, 
he raised himself on tiptoe, and shouted the single 
word, "Ring!" 

Do you see that old man's eye fire? Do you see 
that arm so suddenly bared to the shoulder? Do you 
see that withered hand grasping the iron tongue of 
the bell? That old man is young again. His veins 
are filling with a new life. Backward and forward, 
with sturdy strokes, he swings the tongue. The bell 
peals out; the crowds in the street hear it, and burst 
forth in one long shout. Old Delaware hears it, and 
gives it back on the cheers of her thousand sailors. 



io6 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

The city hears it, and starts up from desk and work- 
shop, as if an earthquake had spoken. 

Under that very bell, pealing out at noonday, in an 
old hall, fifty-six traders, farmers and mechanics had 
assembled to break the shackles of the world. The 
committee, who had been out all night, are about to 
appear. At last the door opens, and they advance to 
the front. The parchment is laid on the table. Shall 
it be signed or not? Then ensues a high and stormy 
debate. Then the faint-hearted cringe in corners. 
Then Thomas Jefferson speaks his few bold words, 
and John Adams pours out his whole soul. 

Still there is a doubt; and that pale-faced man, 
rising in one corner, speaks out something about 
*' axes, scaffolds, and a gibbet." A tall, slender man 
rises, and his dark eye burns, while his words ring 
through the halls : " Gibbets ! They may stretch our 
necks on every scaffold in the land. They may turn 
every rock into a gibbet, every tree into a gallows ; 
and yet the words written on that parchment can 
never die. They may pour out our blood on a thou- 
sand altars, and yet, from every drop that dyes the 
axe, or drips on the sawdust of the block, a new 
martyr to freedom will spring into existence. What! 
are there shrinking hearts and faltering voices here, 
when the very dead upon our battle-fields arise and 
call upon us to sign that parchment, or be accursed 
forever ? 

" Sign ! if the next moment the gibbet's rope is 
around your neck. Sign ! if the next moment this 
hall rings with the echo of the falling axe. Sign ! by 
all your hopes in life or death, as husbands, as fathers, 
as men ! Sign your names to that parchment. 

" Yes ! were my soul trembling on the verge of 



THE DECLARATION 107 

eternity ; were this voice choking in the last strug- 
gle, I would still, with the last impulse of that soul, 
with the last gasp of that voice, implore you to re- 
member this truth : God has given America to the 
free. Yes ! as I sink down in the gloomy shadow of 
the grave, with my last breath I would beg of you 
sign that parchment." 

SUPPOSED SPEECH OF JOHN ADAMS 

BY DANIEL WEBSTER 

Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I 
give my hand and my heart to this vote. It is true, 
indeed, that in the beginning we aimed not at inde- 
pendence. But there is a Divinity which shapes our 
ends. The injustice of England has driven us to 
arms ; and, blinded to her own interest and our good 
she has obstinately persisted, till independence is now 
within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, 
and it is ours. Why, then, should we defer the Decla- 
ration? Is any man so weak as now to hope for a 
reconciliation with England, which shall leave neither 
safety to the country and its liberties, nor safety to 
his life and his own honor? Are you not, sir, who 
sit in that chair, is not he, our venerable colleague 
near you, are you not both already the proscribed and 
predestined objects of punishment and of vengeance? 
Cut off from all hope of royal clemency, what are 
you, what can you be, while the power of England 
remains, but outlaws? 

If we postpone independence, do we mean to carry 
on or give up the war? Do we mean to submit to 
the measures of Parliament, Boston Port-Bill and all ? 



io8 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Do we mean to submit, and consent that we ourselves 
shall be ground to powder, and our country and its 
rights trodden down in the dust? I know we do not 
mean to submit. We never shall submit. Do we 
mean to violate that most solemn obligation ever en- 
tered into by men, that plighting before God, of our 
sacred honor to Washington, when, putting him forth 
to incur the dangers of war, as well as the political 
hazards of the times, we promised to adhere to him, 
in every extremity, with our fortunes and our lives? 
I know there is not a man here, who would not rather 
see a general conflagration sweep over the land, or 
an earthquake sink it, than one jot or tittle of that 
plighted faith fall to the ground. For myself, having, 
twelve months ago, in this place, moved you, that 
George Washington be appointed commander of the 
forces raised, or to be raised, for defense of Ameri- 
can liberty, may my right hand forget her cunning, 
and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if 
I hesitate or waver in the support I give him. 

The war, then, must go on. We must fight it 
through. And if the war must go on, why put off 
longer the Declaration of Independence? That 
measure will strengthen us. It will give us character 
abroad. The nations will then treat with us, which 
they never can do while we acknowledge ourselves sub- 
jects in arms against our sovereign. Nay, I maintain 
that England herself will sooner treat for peace with 
us on the footing of independence than consent, by re- 
pealing her Acts, to acknowledge that her whole con- 
duct toward us has been a course of injustice and 
oppression. Her pride will be less wounded by submit- 
ting to that course of things which now predestinates 
our independence than by yielding the points in con- 



THE DECLARATION 109 

troversy to her rebellious subjects. The former she 
would regard as the result of fortune; the latter she 
would feel as her own deep disgrace. Why, then, 
why, then, sir, do we not as soon as possible change 
this from a civil to a national war? And, since we 
must fight it through, why not put ourselves in a state 
to enjoy all the benefits of victory, if we gain the 
victory ? 

If we fail, it can be no worse for us. But we shall 
not fail. The cause will raise up armies ; the cause 
will create navies. The people, the people, if we are 
true to them, will carry us, and will carry themselves, 
gloriously through the struggle. I care not how fickle 
other people have been found. I know the people 
of these Colonies, and I know that resistance to 
British aggression is deep and settled in their hearts, 
and cannot be eradicated. Every Colony, indeed, has 
expressed its willingness to follow, if we but take 
the lead. 

Sir, the Declaration will inspire the people with in- 
creased courage. Instead of a long and bloody war 
for restoration of privileges, for redress of griev- 
ances, for chartered immunities, held under a British 
King, set before them the gloriousness of entire in- 
dependence, and it will breathe into them anew the 
breath of life. Read this Declaration at the head of 
the army ; every sword will be drawn from its scab- 
bard, and the solemn vow uttered to maintain it, or to 
perish on the bed of honor. Publish it from the 
pulpit; religion will approve it, and the love of reli- 
gious liberty will cling round it, resolved to stand 
with it, or fall with it. Send it to the public halls ; 
proclaim it there ; let them hear it who heard the first 
roar of the enemy's cannon ; let them see it who saw 



no INDEPENDENCE DAY 

their brothers and their sons fall on the field of 
Bunker Hill, and in the streets of Lexington and 
Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its sup- 
port. 

Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs, but 
I see, I see clearly, through this day's business. You 
and I, indeed, may rue it. We may not live to the 
time when this Declaration shall be made good. We 
may die ; die, colonists ; die, slaves ; die, it may be, 
ignominiously and on the scaffold. Be it so ; be it so ! 
If it be the pleasure of heaven that my country shall 
require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall 
be ready at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come 
when that hour may. But, while I do live, let me 
have a country, or at least, the hope of a country, and 
that a free country. 

But whatever may be our fate, be assured, be assured 
that this Declaration will stand. It may cost treasure, 
and it may cost blood, but it will stand, and it will 
richly compensate for both. Through the thick gloom 
of the present, I see the brightness of the future, as 
the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, 
an immortal day. When we are in our graves, our 
children will honor it. They will celebrate it with 
thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires and illumina- 
tions. On its annual return, they will shed tears, 
copious, gushing tears, not of subjection and slavery, 
not of agony and distress, but of exultation, of grati- 
tude and of joy. Sir, before God, I believe the hour 
is come. My judgment approves this measure, and 
my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that 
I am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready 
here to stake upon it. And I leave oft' as I began, 
that, live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Dec- 



THE DECLARATION in 

laration. It is my living sentiment, and by the bless- 
ing of God it shall be my dying sentiment, Independ- 
ence nozu, and INDEPENDENCE FOREVER ! 

THE LIBERTY BELL 

BY J. T. HEADLEY 

On July fourth, 1776, the representatives of the 
American people gathered at the State House in Phila- 
delphia to take final action upon the Declaration of 
Independence, which had been under discussion for 
three days. 

It was soon known throughout the city ; and in the 
morning, before Congress assembled, the streets were 
filled with excited men, some gathered in groups en- 
gaged in eager discussion, and others moving toward 
the State House. All business was forgotten in the 
momentous crisis which the country had now reached. 
No sooner had the members taken their seats than the 
multitude gathered in a dense mass around the en- 
trance. The bell-man mounted to the belfry, to be 
ready to proclaim the joyful tidings of freedom as 
soon as the final vote was passed. A bright-eyed boy 
was stationed below to give the signal. 

Around the bell, brought from England, had been 
cast, more than twenty years before, the prophetic 
motto : " Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, 
unto all the inhabitants thereof." Although its loud 
clang had often sounded over the city, the proclama- 
tion engraved on its iron lip had never yet been spoken 
aloud. 

It was expected that the final vote would be taken 
without delay; but hour after hour wore on, and no 



112 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

report came from the mysterious hall where the fate 
of a continent was in suspense. The multitude grew 
impatient. The old man leaned over the railing, 
straining his eyes downward, till his heart misgave 
him, and hope yielded to fear. But at length, about 
two o'clock the door of the hall opened, and a voice 
exclaimed, " It has passed ! " 

The word leaped like lightning from lip to lip, fol- 
lowed by huzzas that shook the building. The boy- 
sentinel turned to the belfry, clapped his hands, and 
shouted, "Ring! ring!" The desponding bell-man, 
electrified into life by the joyful news, seized the iron 
tongue and hurled it backward and forward with a 
clang that startled every heart in Philadelphia like 
a bugle blast. 

" Clang ! Clang ! " the bell of Liberty resounded 
on, higher and clearer and more joyous, blending in its 
deep and thrilling vibration, and proclaiming in loud 
and long accents over all the land the motto that en- 
circled it. 



INDEPENDENCE BELL, PHILADELPHIA 

INSCRIPTION, " PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT THE LAND TO ALL 
THE INHABITANTS THEREOF." JULY 4, \^^6. 

ANONYMOUS 

There was tumult in the city. 

In the quaint Old Quaker town. 
And the streets were rife with people 

Pacing restless up and down, — 
People gathering at corners. 

Where they whispered each to each, 



THE DECLARATION 113 

And the sweat stood on their temples 
With the earnestness of speech. 

As the bleak Atlantic currents 

Lash the wild Newfoundland shore, 
So they beat against the State House, 

So they surged against the door; 
And the mingling of their voices 

Made a harmony profound, 
Till the quiet street of Chestnut 

Was all turbulent with sound. 

" Will they do it ? " " Dare they do it? " 

"Who is speaking?" "What's the news?" 
" What of Adams ? " " What of Sherman ? " 

" Oh, God grant they won't refuse ! " 
" Make some way, there ! " " Let me nearer ! " 

" I am stifling ! " " Stifle, then ! 
When a nation's life's at hazard. 

We've no time to think of men ! " 

So they beat against the portal, 

Man and woman, maid and child ; 
And the July sun in heaven 

On the scene looked down and smiled: 
The same sun that saw the Spartan 

Shed his patriot blood in vain, 
Now beheld the soul of freedom, 

All unconquered, rise again. 

See! See! The dense crowd quivers 

Through all its lengthy line. 
As the boy beside the portal 

Looks forth to give the sign ! 



114 INDEPENDENCE DAY, 

With his little hands uplifted, 
Breezes dallying with his hair, 

Hark! with deep, clear intonation. 
Breaks his young voice on the air. 

Hushed the people's swelling murmur. 

List the boy's exultant cry ! 
" Ring ! " he shouts, " Ring ! Grandpa, 

Ring ! oh, ring for Liberty ! " 
Quickly at the given signal 

The bell-man lifts his hand. 
Forth he sends the good news, making 

Iron music through the land. 

How they shouted! What rejoicing! 

How the old bell shook the air, 
Till the clang of freedom ruffled 

The calmly gliding Delaware ! 
How the bonfires and the torches 

Lighted up the night's repose, 
And from the flames, like fabled Phoenix, 

Our glorious Liberty arose ! 

That old State House bell is silent, 

Hushed is now its clamorous tongue; 
But the spirit it awakened 

Still is living, — ever young ; 
And when we greet the smiling sunlight 

On the Fourth of each July, 
We will ne'er forget the bell-man 

Who, betwixt the earth and sky. 
Rung out, loudly, " INDEPENDENCE ; " 

Which, please God, shall never die! 



THE declaration' 115 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

In Congress July 4, 1776 

(The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United 
States of America.) 

When in the course of human events, it becomes 
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 
which have connected them with another, and to as- 
sume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and 
equal station to which the laws of nature and of na- 
ture's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions 
of mankind requires that they should declare the causes 
which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men 
are created equal, that they are endowed by their 
Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among 
these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 
That to secure these rights, governments are insti- 
tuted among men, deriving their just powers from the 
consent of the governed, that, whenever any form of 
government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the 
right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to in- 
stitute a new government, laying its foundation on 
such principles and organizing its powers in such 
form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their 
safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate 
that governments long established should not be 
changed for light and transient causes ; and, accord- 
ingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are 
more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, 
than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to 
which they are accustomed. But when a long train of 
abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same 



TND 

ii6 L ^.PENDENCE DAY 

object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute 
depotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw 
off such government, and to provide new guards for 
their future security. Such has been the patient suf- 
ferance of these colonies; and such is now the neces- 
sity which constrains them to alter their former sys- 
tems of government. The history of the present King 
of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and 
usurpations, all having, in direct object, the estab- 
lishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To 
prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world : — 

He has refused his assent to laws, the most whole- 
some and necessary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of 
immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended 
in their operation till his assent should be obtained ; and 
when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend 
to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accom- 
modation of large districts of people, unless those 
people would relinquish the right of representation 
in the legislature ; a right inestimable to them, and 
formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places 
unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the deposi- 
tory of their public records, for the sole purpose of 
fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, 
for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the 
rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolu- 
tions, to cause others to be elected ; whereby the legis- 
lative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned 
to the people at large for their exercise; the State 



THE DECLARATION 117 

remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers 
of invasion from without, and convulsions within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of 
these States ; for that purpose obstructing the laws for 
naturalization of foreigners ; refusing to pass others 
to encourage their migration hither, and raising the 
conditions of new appropriations of lands. 

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by 
refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary 
powers. 

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for 
the tenure of their offices, and the amount and pay- 
ment of their salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent 
hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat 
out their substance. 

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing 
armies without the consent of our legislature. 

He has affected to render the military independent 
of, and superior to, the civil power. 

He has combined, with others, to subject us to a 
jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unac- 
knowledged by our laws ; giving his assent to their acts 
of pretended legislation: 

. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among 
us: 

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punish- 
ment for any murders which they should commit on 
the inhabitants of these States : 

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world : 

For imposing taxes on us without our consent : 

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of 
trial by jury : 



ii8 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pre- 
tended offenses : 

For abolishing the free system of EngHsh laws in 
a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbi- 
trary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as 
to render it at once an example and fit instrument for 
introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies : 

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most 
valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the powers 
of our governments : 

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring 
themselves invested with power to legislate for us in 
all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us 
out of his protection and waging war against us. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, 
burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is, at this time, transporting large armies of 
foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, 
desolation and tyranny, already begun with circum- 
stances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the 
most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head 
of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow citizens, taken cap- 
tive on the high seas, to bear arms against their coun- 
try, to become the executioners of their friends and 
brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. 

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, 
and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our 
frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known 
rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of 
all ages, sexes and conditions. 

In every stage of these oppressions we have peti- 
tioned for redress in the most humble terms ; our re- 



THE DECLARATION 119 

peated petitions have been answered only by repeated 
injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by 
every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the 
ruler of a free people. 

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our 
British brethren. We have warned them from time to 
time of attempts made by their legislature to extend 
an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have re- 
minded them of the circumstances of our emigration 
and settlement here. We have appealed to their na- 
tive justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured 
them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow 
these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt 
our connections and correspondence. They, too, have 
been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. 
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which 
denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold 
the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United 
States of America, in General Congress assembled, ap- 
pealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the 
rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the 
authority of the good people of these colonies, 
solemnly publish and declare. That these United Colo- 
nies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independ- 
ent States ; that they are absolved from all allegiance 
to the British crown, and that all political connection 
between them and the state of Great Britain is, and 
ought to be, totally dissolved ; and that, as Free and 
Independent States, they have full power to levy war, 
conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, 
and to do all other acts and things which Independent 
States may of right do. And, for the support of this 
declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of 



I20 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, 
our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 



John Hancock 

(New Hampshire) Josiah Bartlett, Wm. Whip- 
ple, Matthew Thornton. 

(Massachusetts Bay) Saml, Adams, John Adams, 
RoBT. Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry. 

(Rhode Island) Step. Hopkins, William El- 
lery. 

(Connecticut) Roger Sherman, Sam'el Hunting- 
ton, Wm. Williams, Oliver Wolcott. 

(New York) Wm. Floyd, Phil. Livingston, 
Franc. Lewis, Lewis Morris. 

(New Jersey) Richd. Stockton, Jno. Wither- 
SPOON, Frans. Hopkinson, John Hart, Abra. Clark. 

(Pennsylvania) Robt. Morris, Benjamin Rush, 
Benj. Franklin, John Morton, Geo. Clymer, Jas. 
Smith, Geo. Taylor, James Wilson, Geo. Ross. 

(Delaware) C-^sar Rodney, Geo. Reed, Tho. 
M'Kean. 

(Maryland) Samuel Chase, Wm. Paca, Thos. 
Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 

(Virginia) George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, 
Th. Jefferson, Benja. Harrison, Thos. Nelson, 
JR., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton. 

(North Carolina) Wm. Hooper, Joseph Hewes, 
John Penn. 

(South Carolina) Edward Rutledge, Thos. Hey- 
ward, Junr., Thomas Lynch, Junr., Arthur Mid- 
dleton. 

(Georgia) Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, Geo. 
Walton. 



THE DECLARATION 121 

INDEPENDENCE EXPLAINED 

BY SAMUEL ADAMS 

(Delivered in Philadelphia, August i, 1776, twenty-seven 
days after the Declaration of Independence.) 

My countrymen, from the day on which an accom- 
modation takes place between England and America 
on any other terms than as independent States, I shall 
date the ruin of this country. We are now, to the 
astonishment of the world, three millions of souls 
united in one common cause. This day we are called 
on to give a glorious example of which the wisest and 
best of men were rejoiced to view only in speculation. 
This day presents the world with the most august 
spectacle that its annals ever unfolded, — millions of 
freemen voluntarily and deliberately forming them- 
selves into a society for their common defense and 
common happiness. Immortal spirits of Hampden, 
Locke, and Sidney ! will it not add to your benevolent 
joys to behold your posterity rising to the dignity of 
men — evincing to the world the reality and expe- 
diency of your systems, and in the actual enjoyment 
of that equal liberty which you were happy when on 
earth in delineating and recommending to mankind ? 

Other nations have received their laws from con- 
querors ; some are indebted for a constitution to the 
sufferings of their ancestors through revolving cen- 
turies ; the people of this country alone have formally 
and deliberately chosen a government for themselves, 
and, with open, uninfluenced consent, bound themselves 
into a social compact. And, fellow countrymen, if 
ever it was granted to mortals to trace the designs of 
Providence and interpret its manifestations in favor 



122 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

of their cause, we may, with humihty of soul, cry out, 
NOT UNTO US, NOT UNTO US, BUT TO THY 
NAME BE THE PRAISE. The confusion of the 
devices of our enemies, and the rage of the elements 
against them, have done almost as much towards our 
success as either our counsels or our arms. 

The time at which this attempt in our liberties was 
made, — when we were ripened into maturity, had ac- 
quired a knowledge of war, and were free from the in- 
cursions of intestine enemies, — the gradual advances 
of our oppressors, enabling us to prepare for our de- 
fense, the unusual fertility of our lands, the clemency 
of the seasons, the success which at first attended our 
feeble arms, producing unanimity among our friends 
and compelling our internal foes to acquiescence, — 
these are all strong and palpable marks and assurances 
that Providence IS YET GRACIOUS UNTO ZION, 
THAT IT WILL TURN AWAY THE CAPTIV- 
ITY OF JACOB ! Driven from every other corner 
of the earth, freedom of thought and the right of pri- 
vate judgment in matters of conscience direct their 
course to this happy country as their last asylum. Let 
us cherish the noble guests ! Let us shelter them un- 
der the wings of universal toleration ! Be this the 
seat of UNBOUNDED RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ! 
She will bring with her in her train, Industry, Wisdom, 
and Commerce. 

Our union is now complete. You have in the first 
armies sufficient to repel the whole force of your ene- 
mies. The hearts of your soldiers beat high with the 
spirit of freedom. Go on, then, in your generous en- 
terprise, with gratitude to heaven for past success, 
and confidence of it in the future ! For my own part, 
I ask no greater blessing than to share with you the 



THE DECLARATION 123 

common danger and the common glory. If I have a 
wish dearer to my soul than that my ashes may be 
mingled with those of a Warren and a Montgomery, it 
is, THAT THESE AMERICAN STATES MAY 
NEVER CEASE TO BE FREE AND INDEPEND- 
ENT! 



THE DIGNITY OF OUR NATION'S FOUNDERS 

BY WILLIAM M. EVARTS 

The Declaration of Independence was, when it oc- 
curred, a capital transaction in human affairs ; as such 
it has kept its place in history; as such it will main- 
tain itself while human interest in human institutions 
shall endure. The scene and the actors, for their pro- 
found impression on the world, at the time and ever 
since, have owed nothing to dramatic effects, nothing 
to epical exaggerations. To the eye there was noth- 
ing wonderful or vast or splendid or pathetic in the 
movement or the display. Imagination or art can 
give no sensible grace or decoration to the persons, 
the place, or the performance which made up the 
business of that day. The worth and force that be- 
long to the agents and the action rest wholly on the 
wisdom, the courage and the faith that formed and 
executed the great design, and the potency and per- 
manence of its operation upon the affairs of the 
world which followed as foreseen and legitimate con- 
sequences. 

The dignity of the act is the deliberate, circumspect, 
open and serene performance by these men, in the 
clear light of day and by a concurrent purpose, of a 
civic duty which embraced the greatest hazards to 



124 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

themselves and to all the people from whom they held 
this disputed discretion but which to their sober 
judgments promised benefits to that people and to 
their posterity, exceeding these hazards and commen- 
surate with its own fitness. The question of their 
conduct is to be measured by the actual weight and 
pressure of the manifold considerations which sur- 
rounded the subject before them and by the abundant 
evidence that they comprehended their vastness and 
variety. By a voluntary and responsible choice they 
willed to do what was done and what without their 
will would not have been done. 

Thus estimated, the illustrious act covers all who 
participated in it with its own renown and makes them 
forever conspicuous among men, as it is forever fa- 
mous among events. And thus the signers of our 
Declaration of Independence " wrote their names 
where all nations should behold them and all time 
should not efface them." It was " in the course of 
human events " intrusted to them to determine whether 
the fullness of time had come when a nation should 
be born in a day. They declared the independence of 
a new nation in the sense in which men declare emanci- 
pation or declare war, — the declaration created what 
was declared. 

Famous always among men are the founders of 
states and fortunate above all others in such fame are 
these, our fathers, whose combined wisdom and 
courage began the great structure of our national ex- 
istence and laid sure the foundations of liberty and 
justice on which it rests. Fortunate first in the clear- 
ness of their title and in the world's acceptance of their 
rightful claim. Fortunate next in the enduring magni- 
tude of the State they founded and the beneficence of 



THE DECLARATION 125 

its protection of the vast interests of human Hfe and 
happiness which have here had their home. Fortu- 
nate again in the admiring imitations of their work 
which the institutions of the most powerful and most 
advanced nations more and more exhibit. Fortunate 
last of all in the full demonstration of our later time 
that their work is adequate to withstand the most 
disastrous storms of human fortunes and survive un- 
wrecked, unshaken and unharmed. 

THE CHARACTER OF THE DECLARATION 
OF INDEPENDENCE 

BY GEORGE BANCROFT 

This immortal State paper, which for its composer 
was the aurora of enduring fame, was " the genuine 
effusion of the soul of the country at that time," the 
revelation of its mind, when, in its youth, its enthu- 
siasm, its sublime confronting of danger, it rose to the 
highest creative powers of which man is capable. The 
bill of rights which it promulgates is of rights that 
are older than human institutions, and spring from 
the eternal justice that is anterior to the State. 

Two political theories divided the world: one 
founded the Commonwealth on the reason of State, 
the policy of expediency ; the other on the immutable 
principles of morals. The new Republic, as it took its 
place among the powers of the world, proclaimed its 
faith in the truth and reality and unchangeableness of 
freedom, virtue and right. 

The heart of Jefferson, in writing the Declaration, 
and of Congress in adopting it, beat for all humanity ; 
the assertion of right was made for the entire world 



126 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

of mankind, and all coming generations, without any 
exception whatever ; for the proposition which admits 
of exceptions can never be self-evident. As it was put 
forth in the name of the ascendant people of that time, 
it was sure to make the circuit of the world, passing 
everywhere through the despotic countries of Europe ; 
and the astonished nations, as they read that all men 
are created equal, started out of their lethargy, like 
those who have been exiles from childhood, when they 
suddenly hear the dimly remembered accents of their 
mother tongue. 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

BY HENRY T. RANDALL 

To the Patriots, the Declaration gave strength and 
courage. It gave them a definite purpose, — and a 
name and object commensurate with the cost. When 
it was formally read by the magistracy from the halls 
of justice and in the public marts by the officers of the 
army at the head of their divisions, by the clergy from 
their pulpits, its grandeur impressed the popular im- 
agination. The American people pronounced it a fit 
instrument, clothed in fitting words. The public en- 
thusiasm burst forth, sometimes in gay and festive, 
and sometimes in solemn and religious, observances — 
as the Cavalier or Puritan taste predominated. 

In the Southern and Middle cities and villages, the 
riotous populace tore down the images of monarchs 
and Colonial governors and dragged them with ropes 
round their necks through the streets — cannon thun- 
dered, bonfires blazed — the opulent feasted, drank 
toasts, and joined in hilarious celebrations. In New 



THE DECLARATION 127 

England, the grimmer joy manifested itself in prayers 
and sermons, and in religious rites. 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

BY JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 

The Declaration of Independence ! The interest 
which in that paper has survived the occasion upon 
which it was issued ; the interest which is of every age 
and every clime; the interest which quickens with the 
lapse of years, spreads as it grows old, and brightens 
as it recedes, is in the principles which it proclaims. 
It was the first solemn declaration, by a nation, of the 
only legitimate foundation of civil government. It 
was the corner stone of a new fabric, destined to 
cover the surface of the globe. It demolished at a 
stroke the lawfulness of all governments founded 
upon conquest. It swept away all the rubbish of ac- 
cumulated centuries of servitude. It announced in 
practical form to the world the transcendent truth of 
the inalienable sovereignty of the people. It proved 
that the social compact was no figment of the im- 
agination, but a real, solid, and sacred bond of the 
social union. From the day of this declara- 
tion the people of North America w^ere no longer 
the fragment of a distant empire, imploring justice 
and mercy from an inexorable master in another hemis- 
phere. They were no longer children, appealing in 
vain to the sympathies of a heartless mother ; no 
longer subjects, leaning upon the shattered columns of 
royal promises, and invoking the faith of parchment 
to secure their rights. They were a nation, asserting 



128 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

as of right, and maintaining by war, its own existence. 
A nation was born in a day. 

" How many ages hence 
Shall this, their lofty scene, be acted o'er 
In states unborn, and accents yet unknown ? " 

It will be acted o'er, but it never can be repeated. 
It stands, and mtist forever stand, alone ; a beacon 
on the summit of the moimtain, to which all the in- 
habitants of the earth may turn their eyes for a genial 
and saving light, till time shall be lost in eternity, and 
this globe itself dissolves, nor leave a wreck behind. 
It stands forever, a light of admonition to the rulers of 
men, a light of salvation and redemption to the op- 
pressed. So long as this planet shall be inhabited by 
human beings, so long as man shall be of social nature, 
so long as government shall be necessary to the great 
moral purposes of society, so long as it shall be abused 
to the purposes of oppression — so long shall this 
Declaration hold out to the sovereign and to the sub- 
ject the extent and boundaries of their respective 
rights and duties, founded in the laws of nature and of 
nature's God. 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE^ 

BY TUDOR JENKS 

" What is the most dramatic incident in American 
history and why ? " 

The emphatic and determining word in this ques- 

1 From " The Chautauquan" igoo. 



THE DECLARATION 129 

tion is the adverb " most." To answer conclusively, 
the method must be comparative; it is not enough to 
stir the emotions of patriotism, to excite the imagina- 
tion of the poetic soul, to depict with skill bygone 
scenes so that they live again. The intellectual facul- 
ties must be satisfied that the chosen incident is truly 
an incident, that it is dramatic, and that it is more 
dramatic than all others in our history. 

Definition seems but a poor prelude to the drama, 
but as the defender of the Constitution began his reply 
to Hayne by asking for the reading of the resolution 
before the Senate, it may be permissible to refer to the 
dictionary for guidance, as the storm-tossed mariner 
of Webster's metaphor glanced at the sun to rectify his 
course. 

V Incident," as used in the given question, can mean 
only " something which takes place in connection with 
an event or series of events of greater importance " 
(Century Dictionary), since any broader meaning of 
the word would be too inclusive, and might permit 
the naming of a whole epoch. 

"Dramatic" (by the same author) is "character- 
ized by the force and animation in act or expression ap- 
propriate to the drama." Force and animation may 
of course be psychical or physical ; but if psychical 
they must find expression in some form appreciable 
by the senses, else they are not dramatic. 

Bearing these guiding principles in mind, let us see 
in what moment of American history we shall find 
that incident so connected with greater events, and 
so expressed as to be " The most dramatic " — that in- 
cident toward which all preceding events led, and 
from which subsequent events have sprung. Let us 
then select as expressing that incident the most force- 



130 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

ful and animated action that would be appropriate to 
dramatic representation. 

The periods of American history are the tradition- 
ary, that of discovery and exploration, that of coloni- 
zation. These three are preparatory, and " Ameri- 
can " only in a geographical sense. Then come the 
period of revolution, tliat of nationality and rebellion 
and finally the present — which may be called the 
period of expansion, since it marks for good or for evil 
the birth of the nation as a world power. 

These periods group naturally into two great classes : 
I. America as an appanage of Europe. II. America 
as independent. The transition from one existence 
to the other took place in an instant of time. Before 
the Declaration of Independence our nation did not 
exist; once that document was ratified, the United 
States was created a nation. 

Here, then, is the dividing of the ways; here the 
act of divine creation of which our forefathers were 
but the human instruments. This is the one univer- 
sally celebrated and commemorated moment in our 
history — the birth of " a new nation conceived in 
liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men 
are created equal." 

The great Civil war was but the test whether that 
nation could endure ; so said Lincoln, whom we are 
learning to know as our greatest statesman. All our 
subsequent history is but the voyage of the ship of 
state by the chart then drafted. 

Toward the Declaration converge all previous lines 
of historical development; from the Declaration 
diverge all the lines along which patriotic statesman- 
ship must hereafter guide the national future. Devia- 



THE DECLARATION 131 

tions from these converging and diverging paths have 
been but blind trails to be painfully retraced. 

Here, then, let us repeat, is the focus of our national 
life. 

In what act, in what incident shall we find this mo- 
ment of time expressed most dramatically ? 

The streets of Philadelphia were thronged with 
citizens awaiting news of the action of Congress. 
Within the old State House were the councilors of the 
colonies — the group of contemporaries whom Glad- 
stone declared unequaled in the history of the world. 
One by one the names of the representatives were 
signed to that document which was to commit them to 
death as rebels or to immortality as patriots. 

As the last name was affixed, a little boy ran from 
the doorway out into the street, and, tossing his arms 
above his head, gave forth the tidings of a nation's 
birth in the words : 

"Ring! Ring! RING!" 

and then the Liberty Bell echoed the gospel, as fore- 
ordained in its inscription : " Proclaim liberty to the 
land : to all the inhabitants thereof." 

That is the most dramatic incident in American 
history. 

Whether we view its inception or its outcome, it 
stands unrivaled. We shall forever " celebrate it 
with thanksgiving " so long as the nation endures. 

This incident responds to every test. It is the ac- 
tion of a single person actuated by intense emotion ; 
he, a child, was a type of the fact he expressed; 
through his puny action began the independent life of 



132 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

a nation to whose future none dares prescribe limits. 

Discovery and colonization were inevitable, and are 
common to all lands. Civil wars are expressions 
rather than causes of great crises. Civil and com- 
mercial progress are inevitable. But the Declaration 
of Independence was an act of conscious choice. 

No other incident in our history was so momentous, 
none so dramatic and comprehensive of past and fu- 
ture. 

Columbus was an unconscious instrument in open- 
ing a new world ; the Spanish, French, Dutch, and 
English explorers were all working toward a consum- 
mation none foresaw ; the founders of colonies had 
their ideals, but all have been swallowed up in our 
national development. The Revolution alone looked 
both backward and forward, and the fathers of the 
republic gave us the law of our national being. 

The birth-cry of the nation came from the lips of the 
child who cried aloud in the streets : 

Ring! Ring! RING!" 



THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN 
THE LIGHT OF MODERN CRITICISM ^ 

BY MOSES COIT TYLER 
(Professor of History in Cornell University.) 



It can hardly be doubted that some hindrance to a 
right estimate of the Declaration of Independence is 
occasioned by either of two opposite conditions of 

1 From " The North American Review," i8g6. 



THE DECLARATION 133 

mind, both of which are often to be met with among 
us ; on the one hand, a condition of hereditary, uncriti- 
cal awe and worship of the American Revolution, and 
of that state paper as its absolutely perfect and glori- 
ous expression ; on the other hand, a later condition of 
cultivated distrust of the Declaration, as a piece of 
writing lifted up into inordinate renown by the pas- 
sionate and heroic circumstances of its origin, and 
ever since then extolled beyond reason by the blind 
energy of patriotic enthusiasm. Turning from the 
former state of mind, which obviously calls for no fur- 
ther comment, we may note, as a partial illustration of 
the latter, that American confidence in the supreme in- 
tellectual merit of this all-famous document received 
a serious wound some forty years ago from the hand 
of Rufus Choate, when, with a courage greater than 
would now be required for such an act, lie character- 
ized it as made up of " glittering and sounding gener- 
alities of natural right." What the great advocate 
then so unhesitatingly suggested, many a thoughtful 
American since then has at least suspected — that our 
great proclamation, as a piece of political literature, 
cannot stand the test of modern analysis ; that it be- 
longs to the immense class of over-praised produc- 
tions ; that it is, in fact, a stately patchwork of sweep- 
ing propositions of somewhat doubtful validity ; that it 
has long imposed upon mankind by the well-known 
effectiveness of verbal glitter and sound ; that, at the 
best, it is an example of florid political declamation be- 
longing to the sophomoric period of our national life, 
a period which, as we flatter ourselves, we have now 
outgrown. 

Nevertheless, it is to be noted that whatever au- 
thority the Declaration of Independence has acquired 



134 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

in the world, has been due to no lack of criticism, either 
at the time of its first appearance, or since then; a 
fact which seems to tell in favor of its essential worth 
and strength. From the date of its original publica- 
tion down to the present moment, it has been attacked 
again and again, either in anger, or in contempt, by 
friends as well as by enemies of the American Revolu- 
tion, by liberals in politics as well as by conservatives. 
It has been censured for its substance, it has been 
censured for its form, for its misstatements of fact, 
for its fallacies in reasoning, for its audacious novelties 
and paradoxes, for its total lack of all novelty, for its 
repetition of old and threadbare statements, even for 
its downright plagiarisms ; finally, for its grandiose 
and vaporing style. 

II 

One of the earliest and ablest of its assailants was 
Thomas Hutchinson, the last civil governor of the 
colony of Massachusetts, who, being stranded in Lon- 
don by the political storm which had blown him 
thither, published there, in the autumn of 1776, his 
" Strictures upon the Declaration of the Congress at 
Philadelphia," wherein, with an unsurpassed knowl- 
edge of the origin of the controversy, and with an un- 
surpassed acumen in the discussion of it, he traverses 
the entire document, paragraph by paragraph, for the 
purpose of showing that its allegations in support of 
American Independence are " false and frivolous." 

A better written, and, upon the whole, a more plausi- 
ble and a more powerful arraignment of the great 
Declaration was the celebrated pamphlet by Sir John 
Dalrymple, " The Rights of Great Britain Asserted 
against the Claims of America: Being an Answer to 



THE DECLARATION 135 

the Declaration of the General Congress," — a pam- 
phlet scattered broadcast over the world at such a rate 
that at least eight editions of it were published during 
the last three or four months of the year, 1776. Here, 
again, the manifesto of Congress is subjected to a 
searching examination, in order to prove that " the 
facts are either willfully or ignorantly misrepresented, 
and the arguments deduced from premises that have 
no foundation in truth." It is doubtful if any disin- 
terested student of history, any competent judge of 
reasoning, will now deny to this pamphlet the praise 
of making out a very strong case against the historical 
accuracy and the logical soundness of many parts of 
the Declaration of Independence. 

Undoubtedly, the force of such censures is for us 
much broken by the fact that they proceeded from 
men who were themselves partisans in the Revolu- 
tionary controversy, and bitterly hostile to the whole 
movement which the Declaration was intended to 
justify. Such is not the case, however, with the lead- 
ing modern English critics of the same document, 
who while blaming in severe terms the policy of the 
British Government toward the Thirteen Colonies, have 
also found much to abate from the confidence due to 
this official announcement of the reasons for our 
secession from the empire. For example. Earl Rus- 
sell, after frankly saying that the great disruption 
proclaimed by the Declaration of Independence was a 
result which Great Britain had " used every means 
most fitted to bring about," such as " vacillation in 
council, harshness in language, feebleness in execu- 
tion, disregard of American sympathies and affec- 
tions," also pointed out that " the truth of this mem- 
orable Declaration " was " warped " by " one singular 



136 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

defect," namely, its exclusive and excessive arraign- 
ment of George the Third, " as a single and despotic 
tyrant," much like Philip the Second to the people of 
the Netherlands. 

This temperate criticism from an able and a liberal 
English statesman of the present century may be said 
to touch the very core of the problem as to the historic 
justice of our great indictment of the last King of 
America ; and there is deep significance in the fact 
that this is the very criticism upon the document, 
which, as John Adams tells us, he himself had in mind 
when it was first submitted to him in committee, and 
even, when, shortly afterward, he advocated its 
adoption by Congress. After mentioning certain 
things in it with which he was delighted, he adds : 

" There v/ere other expressions which I would not 
have inserted if I had drawn it up — particularly that 
which called the king tyrant. I thought this too per- 
sonal ; for I never believed George to be a tyrant in 
disposition and in nature. I always believed him to 
be deceived by his courtiers on both sides of the Atlan- 
tic, and in his official capacity only cruel. I thought 
the expression too passionate, and too much like 
scolding, for so grave and solemn a document; but, as 
Franklin and Sherman were to inspect it afterwards 
I thought it would not become me to strike it out. I 
consented to report it." 

A more minute and a more poignant criticism of 
the Declaration of Independence has been made in 
recent years by still another English writer of liberal 
tendencies, who, however, in his capacity as critic, 
seems here to labor under the disadvantage of having 
transferred to the document which he undertakes to 
judge much of the extreme dislike which he has for 



THE DECLARATION 137 

the man who wrote it, whom, indeed, he regards as a 
sophist, as a demagogue, as quite capable of inveracity 
in speech, and as bearing some resemblance to Robes- 
pierre " in his feline nature, his malignant egotism, 
and his intense suspiciousness, as well as in his bloody- 
minded, yet possibly sincere, philanthropy." In the 
opinion of Prof. Goldwin Smith, our great national 
manifesto is written " in a highly rhetorical strain ; 
it opens with sweeping ai)horisms about the natural 
rights of man, at which political science now smiles, 
and which . . . might seem strange when framed 
for slave-holding communities by a publicist who him- 
self held slaves " ; while, in his specifications of fact, 
it " is not more scrupulously truthful than are the 
general utterances " of the statesman who was its 
scribe. Its charges that the several offensive acts 
of the king, besides " evincing a design to reduce 
the colonists under absolute despotism," " all had as 
their direct object the establishment of an absolute 
tyranny," are simply " propositions which history can- 
not accept." Moreover, the Declaration " blinks the 
fact that many of the acts, styled steps of usurpa- 
tion, were measures of repression, which, however 
unwise or excessive, had been provoked by popular 
outrage. No government could allow its officers to 
be assaulted and their houses sacked, its loyal lieges 
to be tarred and feathered, or the property of mer- 
chants sailing under its flag to be thrown by lawless 
hands into the sea." Even " the preposterous vio- 
lence and the manifest insincerity of the suppressed 
clause " against slavery and the slave-trade " are 
enough to create suspicion as to the spirit in which 
the whole document was framed." 



138 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

III 

Finally, as has been already intimated, not even 
among Americans themselves has the Declaration of 
Independence been permitted to pass on into the en- 
joyment of its superb renown, without much critical 
disparagement at the hands of statesmen and his- 
torians. No doubt Calhoun had its preamble in mind 
when he declared that " nothing can be more un- 
founded and false " than " the prevalent opinion that 
all men are born free and equal " ; for " it rests upon 
the assumption of a fact which is contrary to uni- 
versal observation." Of course, all Americans who 
have shared to any extent in Calhoun's doctrines re- 
specting human society could hardly fail to agree with 
him in regarding as fallacious and worthless those 
general propositions in the Declaration which seem to 
constitute its logical starting point, as well as its ulti- 
mate defense. 

Perhaps, however, the most frequent form of dis- 
paragement to which Jefferson's great state paper has 
been subjected among us is that which would minimize 
his merit in composing it, by denying to it the merit 
of originality. For example, Richard Henry Lee 
sneered at it as a thing " copied from Locke's 
Treatise on Governuient." The author of a life of 
Jefferson, published in the year of Jefferson's retire- 
ment from the presidency, suggests that the credit of 
having composed the Declaration of Independence 
" has been perhaps more generally, than truly, given 
by the public " to that great man. Charles Campbell, 
the historian of Virginia, intimates that some ex- 
pressions in the document were taken without ac- 
knowledgment from Aphra Behn's tragi-comedy, 



THE DECLARATION 139 

" The Widow-Ranter, or the History of Bacon in Vir- 
ginia," John Stockton Littell describes the Declara- 
tion of Independence as " that enduring monument 
at once of patriotism, and of genius and skill in the 
art of appropriation " — asserting that " for the senti- 
ments and much of the language " of it, Jefferson 
was indebted to Chief Justice Brayton's charge to the 
grand jury of Charleston, delivered in April, 1776, as 
well as to the Declaration of Independence said to 
have been adopted by some citizens of Mecklenburg 
County, North Carolina, in May, 1775. Even the 
latest and most critical editor of the writings of Jef- 
ferson calls attention to the fact that a glance at the 
Declaration of Rights, as adopted by Virginia on the 
I2th of June, 1776, " would seem to indicate the 
source from which Jefferson derived a most impor- 
tant and popular part" of his famous production. 
By no one, however, has the charge of a lack of 
originality been pressed with so much decisiveness 
as by John Adams, who took evident pleasure in 
speaking of it as a document in which were merely 
" recapitulated " previous and well-known statements 
of American rights and wrongs, and who, as late as 
in the year 1822, deliberately wrote : 

" There is not an idea in it but what had been 
hackneyed in Congress for two years before. The 
substance of it is contained in the declaration of 
rights and the violation of those rights, in the Jour- 
nals of Congress, in 1774. Indeed, the essence of it 
is contained in a pamphlet, voted and printed by the 
town of Boston, before the first Congress met, com- 
posed by James Otis, as I suppose, in one of his lucid 
intervals, and pruned and polished by Samuel Adams." 



I40 INDEPENDENCE DAY 



IV 

Perhaps nowhere in our literature would it be possi- 
ble to find a criticism brought forward by a really 
able man against any piece of writing less applicable 
to the case, and of less force and value, than is this 
particular criticism by John Adams and others, as to 
the lack of originality in the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. Indeed, for such a paper as Jefferson was com- 
missioned to write, the one quality which it could not 
properly have had, the one quality which would have 
been fatal to its acceptance either by the American 
Congress or by the American people — is originality. 
They were then at the culmination of a tremendous 
controversy over alleged grievances of the most 
serious kind — a controversy that had been steadily 
raging for at least twelve years. In the course of 
that long dispute, every phase of it, whether as to 
abstract right or constitutional privilege or personal 
procedure, had been presented in almost every con- 
ceivable form of speech. At last, they had resolved, 
in view of all this experience, no longer to prosecute 
the controversy as members of the empire ; they had 
resolved to revolt, and, casting off forever their an- 
cient fealty to the British crown, to separate from 
the empire, and to establish themselves as a new 
nation among the nations of the earth. In this 
emergency as it happened, Jefferson was called upon 
to put into form a suitable statement of the chief 
considerations which prompted them to this great act 
of revolution, and which, as they believed, justified 
it. What, then, was Jefferson to do? Was he to 
regard himself as a mere literary essayist, set to 
produce before the world a sort of prize-dissertation 



THE DECLARATION 141 

— a calm, analytic, judicial treatise on history and 
politics with a particular application to Anglo- 
American affairs — one essential merit of which 
would be its originality as a contribution to historical 
and political literature? Was he not, rather, to re- 
gard himself, as, for the time being, the very mouth- 
piece and prophet of the people whom he represented, 
and as such required to bring together and to set in 
order, in their name, not what was new, but what 
was old ; to gather up into his own soul, as much as 
possible, whatever was then also in their souls, their 
very thoughts and passions, their ideas of constitu- 
tional law, their interpretations of fact, their opinions 
as to men and as to events in all that ugly quarrel, 
their notions of justice, of civic dignity, of human 
rights ; finally, their memories of wrongs which 
seemed to them intolerable, especially of wrongs in- 
flicted upon them during those twelve years by the 
hands of insolent and brutal men, in the name of the 
king, and by his apparent command? 

Moreover, as the nature of the task laid upon him 
made it necessary that he should thus state, as the 
reasons for their intended act, those very considera- 
tions both as to fact and as to opinion which had 
actually operated upon their minds, so did it require 
him to do so, to some extent, in the very language 
which the people themselves, in their more formal and 
deliberate utterances, had all along been using. In 
the development of political life in England and 
America, there had already been created a vast litera- 
ture of constitutional progress — a literature common 
to both portions of the English race, pervaded by its 
own stately traditions, and reverberating certain great 
phrases which formed, as one may say, almost the 



142 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

vernacular of English justice, and of English aspira- 
tion for a free, manly and orderly political life. In 
this vernacular the Declaration of Independence was 
written. The phraseology thus characteristic of it is 
the very phraseology of the champions of constitu- 
tional expansion, of civic dignity and progress, within 
the English race ever since Magna Charta; of the 
great state papers of English freedom in the seven- 
teenth century, particularly the Petition of Right in 
1629, and the Bill of Rights in 1789; of the great 
English Charters for colonization in America; of the 
great English exponents of legal and political progress 
— Sir Edward Coke, John Milton, Sir Philip Sidney, 
John Locke ; finally, of the great American exponents 
of political liberty, and of the chief representative 
bodies, whether local or general, which had convened 
in America from the time of Stamp Act Congress 
until that of the Congress which resolved upon our 
independence. To say, therefore, that the official 
declaration of that resolve is a paper made up of the 
very opinions, beliefs, unbeliefs, the very sentiments, 
prejudices, passions, even the errors in judgment and 
the personal misconstructions — if they were such — 
which then actually impelled the American people 
to that mighty act, and that all these are expressed 
in the very phrases which they had been accustomed 
to use, is to pay to that state-paper the highest tribute 
as to its fitness for the purpose for which it was 
framed. 

Of much of this, also, Jefferson himself seems to 
have been conscious ; and perhaps never does he rise 
before us with more dignity, with more truth, than 
when, late in his lifetime, hurt by the captious and 
jangling words of disparagement then recently put 



THE DECLARATION 143 

into writing by his old comrade, to the effect that the 
Declaration of Independence " contained no new 
ideas, that it is a commonplace compilation, its sen- 
tences hackneyed in Congress for two years before, 
and its essence contained in Otis's pamphlet," Jeffer- 
son quietly remarked that perhaps these statements 
might " all be true : of that I am not to be the judge. 
. . . Whether I had gathered my ideas from read- 
ing or reflection, I do not know. I know only that 
I turned to neither book nor pamphlet while writing 
it. I did not consider it as any part of my charge 
to invent new ideas altogether and to offer no senti- 
ment which had ever been expressed before." 

Before passing from this phase of the subject, how- 
ever, it should be added that, while the Declaration 
of Independence lacks originality in the sense just 
indicated, in another and perhaps in a higher sense, 
it possesses originality — it is individualized by the 
character and by the genius of its author. Jeffer- 
son gathered up the thoughts and emotions and even 
the characteristic phrases of the people for whom 
he wrote, and these he perfectly incorporated with 
what was already in his mind, and then to the music 
of his own keen, rich, passionate, and enkindling 
style, he mustered them into that stately and tri- 
umphant procession wherein, as some of us still think, 
they will go marching on to the world's end. 

There were then in Congress several other men 
who could have written the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, and written it well — notably Franklin, either 
of the two Adamses, Richard Henry Lee, William 
Livingston, and, best of all, but for his own opposi- 
tion to the measure, John Dickinson ; but had any 
one of these other men written the Declaration of 



144 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Independence, while it would have contained, doubt- 
less, nearly the same topics and nearly the same great 
formulas of political statement, it would yet have been 
a wholly different composition from this of Jeffer- 
son's. No one at all familiar with his other writings, 
as well as with the writings of his chief con- 
temporaries, could ever have a moment's doubt, even 
if the fact were not already notorious, that this docu- 
ment was by Jefferson. He put into it something 
that was his own, and that no one else could have 
put there. He put himself into it — his own genius, 
his own moral force, his faith in God, his faith in 
ideas, his love of innovation, his passion for progress, 
his invincible enthusiasm, his intolerance of prescrip- 
tion, of injustice, of cruelty; his sympathy, his 
clarity of vision, his affluence of diction, his power 
to fling out great phrases which will long fire and 
cheer the souls of men struggling against political 
unrighteousness. 

And herein lies its essential originality, perhaps the 
most precious, and, indeed, almost the only originality 
ever attaching to any great literary product that is 
representative of its time. He made for himself no 
improper claim, therefore, when he directed that upon 
the granite obelisk at his grave should be carved the 
words : " Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author 
of the Declaration of Independence." 



If the Declaration of Independence is now to be 
fairly judged by us, it must be judged with refer- 
ence to what it was intended to be, namely, an im- 
passioned manifesto of one party, and that the 
weaker party, in a violent race-quarrel ; of a party 



THE DECLARATION 145 

resolved, at last, upon the extremity of revolution, 
and already menaced by the inconceivable disaster of 
being defeated in the very act of armed rebellion 
against the mightiest military power on earth. This 
manifesto, then, is not to be censured because, being 
avowedly a statement of his own side of the quarrel, 
it does not also contain a moderate and judicial state- 
ment of the opposite side ; or because, being neces- 
sarily partisan in method, it is likewise both partisan 
and vehement in tone ; or because it bristles with ac- 
cusations against the enemy so fierce and so un- 
qualified as now to seem in some respects overdrawn ; 
or because it resounds with certain great aphorisms 
about the natural rights of man, at which, indeed, 
political science cannot now smile, except to its own 
discomfiture and shame — aphorisms which are likely 
to abide in this world as the chief source and inspira- 
tion of heroic enterprises among men for self-de- 
liverance from oppression. 

Taking into account, therefore, as we are bound to 
do, the circumstances of its origin, and especially its 
purpose as a solemn and piercing appeal to mankind 
on behalf of a small and weak nation against the 
alleged injustice and cruelty of a great and powerful 
one, it still remains our duty to inquire whether, as 
has been asserted in our time, history must set aside 
either of the two central charges embodied in the 
Declaration of Independence. 

The first of these charges affirms that the several 
acts complained of by the colonists evinced " a de- 
sign to reduce them under absolute despotism," and 
had as their " direct object the establishment of an 
absolute tyranny " over the American people. Was 
tliis, indeed, a groundless charge, in the sense in- 



146 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

tended by the words " despotism " and " tyranny " — 
that is, in the sense commonly given to those words 
in the usage of the Enghsh-speaking race? Accord- 
ing to that usage, it was not an Oriental despotism 
that was meant, nor a Greek tyranny, nor a Roman, 
nor a Spanish. The sort of despot, the sort of tyrant, 
whom the English people, ever since the time of King 
John and especially during the period of the Stuarts, 
had been accustomed to look for and to guard against, 
was the sort of tyrant or despot that could be evolved 
out of the conditions of English political life. Fur- 
thermore, he was not by them expected to appear 
among them at the outset in the fully developed shape 
of a Philip or an Alva in the Netherlands. They 
were able to recognize him, they were prepared to 
resist him, in the earliest and most incipient stage 
of his being — at the moment, in fact, when he should 
make his first attempt to gain all power over his 
people, by assuming the single power to take their 
property without their consent. Hence it was, as 
Edmund Burke pointed out in the House of Com- 
mons only a few weeks before the American Revolu- 
tion entered upon its military phase, that : 

" The great contests for freedom . . . were 
from the earliest times chiefly upon the question of 
taxing. Most of the contests in the ancient com- 
monwealths turned primarily on the right of election 
of magistrates, or on the balance among the several 
orders of the state. The question of money was not 
with them so immediate. But in England it was 
otherwise. On this point of taxes the ablest pens 
and most eloquent tongues have been exercised, the 
greatest spirits have acted and suiTered. . . . 
They took infinite pains to inculcate, as a funda- 



THE DECLARATION 147 

mental principle, that in all monarchies the people 
must in effect, themselves, mediately or immediately, 
possess the power of granting their own money, or 
no shadow of liberty could subsist. The colonies 
draw from you, as with their life-blood, these ideas 
and principles. Their love of liberty, as with you, 
fixed and attached on this specific point of taxing. 
Liberty might be safe or might be endangered in 
twenty other particulars without their being much 
pleased or alarmed. Here they felt its pulse, and as 
they found that beat, they thought themselves sick 
or sound." 

Accordingly, the meaning which the English race 
on both sides of the Atlantic were accustomed to at- 
tach to the words " tyranny " and " despotism," was 
a meaning to some degree ideal ; it was a meaning 
drawn from the extraordinary political sagacity with 
which the race is endowed, from their extraordinary 
sensitiveness as to the use of the taxing-power in 
government, from their instinctive perception of the 
commanding place of the taxing-power among all the 
other forms of power in the state, from their perfect 
assurance that he who holds the purse with the power 
to fill it and to empty it, holds the key of the situa- 
tion — can maintain an army of his own, can rule 
without consulting Parliament, can silence criticism, 
can crush opposition, can strip his subjects of every 
vestige of political life; in other words, he can make 
slaves of them, he can make a despot and a tyrant 
of himself. Therefore, the system which in the end 
might develop into results so palpably tyrannic and 
despotic, they bluntly called a tyranny and a des- 
potism in the beginning. To say, therefore, that the 
Declaration of Independence did the same, is to say 



148 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

that it spoke good English. Of course, history will 
be ready to set aside the charge thus made in language 
not at all liable to be misunderstood, just so soon as 
history is ready to set aside the common opinion that 
the several acts of the British government, from 1764 
to 1776, for laying and enforcing taxation in 
America, did evince a somewhat particular and sys- 
tematic design to take away some portion of the 
property of the American people without their consent. 

The second of the two great charges contained in 
the Declaration of Independence, while intimating 
that some share in the blame is due to the British 
Parliament and to the British people, yet fastens upon 
the king himself as the one person chiefly responsible 
for the scheme of American tyranny therein set 
forth, and culminates in the frank description of him 
as " a prince whose character is thus marked by every 
act which may define a tyrant." Is this accusation 
of George the Third now to be set aside as unhis- 
toric ? Was that king, or was he not, chiefly responsi- 
ble for the American policy of the British govern- 
ment between the years 1764 and 1776? If he was 
so, then the historic soundness of the most impor- 
tant portion of the Declaration of Independence is 
vindicated. 

Fortunately, this question can be answered without 
hesitation, and in a few words; and for these few 
words, an American writer of to-day, conscious of 
his own bias of nationality, will rightly prefer to cite 
such words as have been uttered upon the subject 
by the ablest English historians of our time. Upon 
their statements alone it must be concluded that 
George the Third ascended his throne with the fixed 
purpose of resuming to the crown many of those 



THE DECLARATION 149 

powers which, by the constitution of England, did not 
then belong to it, and that in this purpose, at least 
during the first twenty-five years of his reign, he 
substantially succeeded — himself determining what 
should be the policy of each administration, what 
opinions his ministers should advocate in Parliament, 
and what measures Parliament itself should adopt. 
Says Sir Erskine May: 

" The king desired to undertake personally the chief 
administration of public afifairs, to direct the policy 
of his ministers, and himself to distribute the patron- 
age of the crown. He was ambitious not only to 
reign, but to govern. Strong as were the minis- 
ters, the king was resolved to wrest all power from 
their hands, and to exercise it himself. But what 
was this in effect but to assert that the king should 
be his own minister ? . . . The king's tactics were 
fraught with danger, as well to the crown itself as to 
the constitutional liberties of the people." 

Already prior to the year 1778, according to 
Lecky, the king had " laboriously built up " in Eng- 
land a " system of personal government " ; and it was 
because he was unwilling to have this system dis- 
turbed that he then refused, " in defiance of the most 
earnest representations of his own minister and of 
the most eminent politicians of every party . . . 
to send for the greatest of living statesmen at the 
moment when the empire appeared to be in the very 
agonies of dissolution. . . . Either Chatham or 
Rockingham should have insisted that the policy of 
the country should be directed by its responsible min- 
isters and not dictated by an irresponsible sovereign." 

This refusal of the king to pursue the course which 
was called for by the constitution, and which would 



I50 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

have taken the control of the poHcy of the govern- 
ment out of his hands, was, according to the same 
great historian, an act " the most criminal in the whole 
reign of George the Third; ... as criminal as 
any of those acts which led Charles the First to the 
scaffold." 

Even so early as the year 1768, according to John 
Richard Green, 

" George the Third had at last reached his aim. 
. . . In the early days of the ministry " (which 
began in that year) "his influence was felt to be 
predominant. In its later and more disastrous days 
it was supreme ; for Lord North, who became the 
head of the ministry on Grafton's retirement in 1770, 
was the mere mouthpiece of the king. ' Not only 
did he direct the minister,' a careful observer tells 
us, ' in all important matters of foreign and domestic 
policy, but he instructed him as to the management 
of debates in Parliament, suggested what motions 
should be made or opposed, and how measures should 
be carried. He reserved for himself all the patron- 
age, he arranged the whole cast of the administra- 
tion, settled the relative place and pretentions of 
ministers of state, law officers, and members of the 
household, nominated and promoted the English and 
Scotch judges, appointed and translated bishops and 
deans, and dispensed other preferments in the church. 
He disposed of military governments, regiments, and 
commissions, and himself ordered the marching of 
troops. He gave and refused titles, honors, and pen- 
sions.' All this immense patronage was steadily used 
for the creation of a party in both houses of Parlia- 
ment attached to the king himself. . . . George, 
was, in fact, sole minister during the fifteen years 



THE DECLARATION 151 

which followed; and the shame of the darkest hour 
of English history lies wholly at his door." 

Surely, until these tremendous verdicts of English 
history shall be set aside, there need be no anxiety 
in any quarter as to the historic soundness of the 
two great accusations which together make up the 
principal portion of the Declaration of Independence. 
In the presence of these verdicts also, even the pas- 
sion, the intensity of language, in which those ac- 
cusations are uttered, seem to find a perfect justifica- 
tion. Indeed, in the light of the most recent and 
most unprejudiced expert testimony, the whole docu- 
ment, both in its substance and in its form, seems to 
have been the logical response of a nation of brave 
men to the great words of the greatest of English 
statesmen, as spoken in the House of Commons pre- 
cisely ten years before: 

" This kingdom has no right to lay a tax on the 
colonies. Sir, I rejoice that America has resisted. 
Three millions of people, so dead to all the feelings 
of liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would 
have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest." 

VI 

Thus, ever since its first announcement to the 
world, and down almost to the present moment, has 
the Declaration of Independence been tested by criti- 
cism of every possible kind — by criticism intended 
and expected to be destructive. Apparently, how- 
ever, all this criticism has failed to accomplish its 
object. 

It is proper for us to remember, also, that what 
we call criticism is not the only valid test of the 
genuineness and worth of any piece of writing of 



152 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

great practical interest to mankind ; there is, in addi- 
tion, the test of actual use and service, in direct con- 
tact with the common sense and the moral sense of 
large masses of men, under various conditions, and 
for a long period. Probably no writing which is not 
essentially sound and true has ever survived this 
test. 

Neither from this test has the great Declaration 
any need to shrink. As to the immediate use for 
which it was sent forth — that of rallying and uniting 
the friends of the Revolution, and bracing them for 
their great task — its effectiveness was so great and 
so obvious that it has never been denied. During the 
century and a quarter since the Revolution, its in- 
fluence on the political character and the political con- 
duct of the American people has been great beyond 
calculation. For example, after we had achieved our 
own national deliverance, and had advanced into that 
enormous and somewhat corrupting material prosperity 
which followed the adoption of the constitution and 
the development of the cotton-interest and the ex- 
pansion of the Republic into a transcontinental power, 
we fell under an appalling temptation — the tempta- 
tion to forget, or to repudiate, or to refuse to apply 
to the case of our human brethren in bondage, the 
principles which we had once proclaimed as the basis 
of every rightful government. The prodigious service 
rendered to us in this awful moral emergency by the 
Declaration of Independence, was, that its public 
repetition, at least once every year, in the hearing 
of vast throngs of the American people in every 
portion of the Republic, kept constantly before our 
minds, in a form of almost religious sanctity, those 
few great ideas as to the dignity of human nature, 



THE DECLARATION 153 

and the sacredness of personality, and the indestructi- 
ble rights of man as mere man, with which it had 
so gloriously identified the beginnings of our national 
existence. It did at last become very hard for us 
to listen each year to the preamble of the Declara- 
tion and still remain the owners and users and 
catchers of slaves ; still harder, to accept the doctrine 
that the righteousness and prosperity of slavery was 
to be accepted as the dominant policy of the nation. 
The logic of Calhoun was as flawless as usual, when 
he concluded that the chief obstruction in the way 
of his system was the preamble of the Declaration 
of Independence. Had it not been for the inviolable 
sacredness given by it to those sweeping aphorisms 
about the natural rights of man, it may be doubted 
whether Calhoun might not have won over an im- 
mense majority of the American people to the sup- 
port of his compact and plausible scheme for mak- 
ing slavery the basis of the Republic. It was the 
preamble of the Declaration of Independence which 
elected Lincoln, which sent forth the Emancipation 
Proclamation, which gave victory to Grant, which rati- 
fied the Thirteenth Amendment. 

We shall not here attempt to delineate the influ- 
ence of this state paper upon mankind in general. 
Of course, the emergence of the American Republic 
as an imposing world-power is a phenomenon which 
has now for many years attracted the attention of 
the human race. Surely, no slight effect must have 
resulted from the fact that, among all civilized peo- 
ples, the one American document best known is the 
Declaration of Independence, and that thus the 
spectacle of so vast and beneficent a political success 
has been everywhere associated with the assertion 



154 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

of the natural rights of man. " The doctrines it con- 
tained," says Buckle, " were not merely welcomed by 
a majority of the French nation, but even the gov- 
ernment itself was unable to withstand the general 
feeling. Its effect in hastening the approach of 
the French Revolution . . . was indeed most re- 
markable." Elsewhere, also, in many lands, among 
many peoples, it has been cited again and again as 
an inspiration to political courage, as a model for 
political conduct ; and if, as the brilliant historian 
just alluded to has affirmed, " that noble Declaration 
. . . ought to be hung up in the nursery of every 
king, and blazoned on the porch of every royal 
palace," it is because it has become the classic state- 
ment of political truths which must at last abolish 
kings altogether, or else teach them to identify their 
existence with the dignity and happiness of human 
nature. 



V 

THE STRUGGLE FOR 
INDEPENDENCE 



THE PRINCIPLES OF THE REVOLUTION 

BY JOSIAH QUINCY 

When we speak of the glory of our fathers, we 
mean not that vulgar renown to be attained by 
physical strength ; nor yet that higher fame, to be ac- 
quired by intellectual power. Both often exist with- 
out lofty thought, pure intent, or generous purpose. 
The glory which we celebrate was strictly of a moral 
and religious character : righteous as to its ends ; just 
as to its means. 

The American Revolution had its origin neither in 
ambition, nor avarice, nor envy, nor in any gross 
passion; but in the nature and relation of things, and 
in the thence-resulting necessity of separation from 
the parent state. Its progress was limited by that 
necessity. Our fathers displayed great strength and 
great moderation of purpose. In difficult times they 
conducted it with wisdom ; in doubtful times, with 
firmness ; in perilous times, with courage ; under op- 
pressive trials, erect; amidst temptations, unseduced; 
in the dark hour of danger, fearless; in the bright 
hour of prosperity, faithful. 

It was not the instant feeling and pressure of 
despotism that roused them to resist, but the prin- 
ciple on which that arm was extended. They could 
have paid the impositions of the British government, 
had they been increased a thousandfold ; but payment 
acknowledged right, and they spurned the conse- 

157 



I5g INDEPENDENCE DAY 

quences of that acknowledgment. But, above all, 
they realized that those burdens, though light in them- 
selves, would to coming ages — to us, their posterity 
— be heavy, and probably insupportable. They pre- 
ferred to meet the trial in their own times, and to 
make the sacrifices in their own persons, that we and 
our descendants, their posterity, might reap the har- 
vest and enjoy the increase. 

Generous men, exalted patriots, immortal states- 
men ! For this deep moral and social affection, for 
this elevated self-devotion, this bold daring, the multi- 
plying millions of your posterity, as they spread back- 
ward to the lakes, and from the lakes to the moun- 
tains, and from the mountains to the western waters, 
shall annually, in all future time, come up to the 
temples of the Most High, with song and anthem, 
and thanksgiving ; with cheerful symphonies and halle- 
lujahs, to repeat your names; to look steadfastly on 
the brightness of your glory; to trace its spreading 
rays to the points from which they emanate; and to 
seek in your character and conduct a practical illustra- 
tion of public duty in every occurring social exigency. 

THE SONG OF THE CANNON 

BY SAM WALTER FOSS 

When the diplomats cease from their capers, 

Their red-tape requests and replies, 
Their shuttlecock battle of papers, 

Their saccharine parley of lies ; 
When the plenipotentiary wrangle 

Is tied in a chaos of knots, 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 159 

And becomes an unwindable tangle 

Of verbals unmarried to thoughts ; 
When they've anguished and argued profoundly, 

Asserted, assumed, and averred, 
Then I end up the dialogue roundly 

With my monosyllabical word. 

Not mine in a speech academic, 

No lexicon lingo is mine, 
And in politic parley, polemic, 

I was never created to shine. 
But I speak with some show of decision, 

And I never attempt to be bland, 
I hurl my one word with precision. 

My hearers — they all understand. 
It requires no labored translation. 

Its pith and its import to glean ; 
They gather its signification ; 

They know at the first what I mean. 

The codes of the learned legations. 

Of form, and of rule, and decree, 
The etiquette books of the nations, — 

They were never intended for me. 
When your case is talked into confusion. 

Then hush you, my diplomat friend, 
Give me just a word in conclusion. 

Let me bring the dispute to an end. 
Ye diplomats, cease to aspire, 

A case that's appealed to debate. 
It has gone to a court that is higher. 

And I'm the Attorney for Fate. 



i6o INDEPENDENCE DAY 

PAUL REVERE'S RIDE^ 

(April i8, 1 775-) 

BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 

Listen, my children, and you shall hear 

Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, 

On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five: 

Hardly a man is now alive 

Who remembers that famous day and year. 

He said to his friend, " If the British march 
By land or sea from the town to-night. 
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch 
Of the North Church tower as a signal-light, 
One, if by land, and two, if by sea ; 
And I on the opposite shore will be, 
Ready to ride and spread the alarm 
Through every Middlesex village and farm. 
For the country folk to be up and to arm." 

Then he said, good night! and with muffled oar 

Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore. 

Just as the moon rose over the bay, 

Where swinging wide at her moorings lay 

The Somerset, British man-of-war; 

A phantom ship, with each mast and spar 

Across the moon like a prison-bar. 

And a huge black hulk, that was magnified 

By its own reflection in the tide. 

1 By permission of the publishers, Houghton, UlifHin Co. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE i6i 

Meanwhile, his friend, through alley and street 
Wanders and watches with eager ears, 
Till in the silence around him he hears 
The muster of men at the barrack door, 
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet, 
And the measured tread of the grenadiers. 
Marching down to their boats on the shore. 



Then he climbed to the tower of the Old North 

Church, 
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, 
To the belfry-chamber overhead, 
And startled the pigeons from their perch 
On the somber rafters, that round him made 
Masses and moving shapes of shade, — 
By the trembling ladder, steep and tall. 
To the highest window in the wall, 
Where he paused to listen and look down 
A moment on the roofs of the town. 
And the moonlight flowing over all. 



Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, 

In their night-encampment on the hill, 

Wrapped in silence so deep and still, 

That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread. 

The watchful night-wind, as it went 

Creeping along from tent to tent, 

And seeming to whisper, " All is well ! " 

A moment only he feels the spell 

Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread 

Of the lonely belfry and the dead ; 

For suddenly all his thoughts are bent 



i62 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

On a shadowy something far away, 
Where the river widens to meet the bay, 
A line of black that bends and floats 
On the rising tide, like a bridge oi boats. 

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride, 

Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride 

On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere. 

Now he patted his horse's side, 

Now gazed at the landscape far and near, 

Then, impetuous, stamped the earth. 

And turned and tightened his saddle-girth; 

But mostly he watched with eager search 

The belfry-tower of the Old North Church, 

As it rose above the graves on the hill, 

Lonely, and spectral, and somber and still. 

And lo ! as he looks, on the belfry's height 

A glimmer, and then a gleam of light ! 

He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns, 

But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight 

A second lamp in the belfry burns ! 

A hurry of hoofs in a village street, 

A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark. 

And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 

Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet : 

That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the 

light, 
The fate of a nation was riding that night ; 
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, 
Kindled the land into flame with its heat. 

He has left the village and mounted the steep, 
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 163 

Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides ; 
And under the alders, that skirt its edge, 
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge. 
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides. 

It was twelve by the village clock 

When he crossed the bridge into Medford town. 

He heard the crowing of the cock. 

And the barking of the farmer's dog, 

And felt the damp of the river fog, 

That rises after the sun goes down. 

It was one by the village clock, 

When he rode into Lexington. 

He saw the gilded weathercock 

Swim in the moonlight as he passed. 

And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare. 

Gaze at him with a spectral glare, 

As if they already stood aghast 

At the bloody work they would look upon. 

It was two by the village clock, 

When he came to the bridge in Concord town. 

He heard the bleating of the flock, 

And the twitter of birds among the trees, 

And felt the breath of the morning breeze 

Blowing over the meadows brown. 

And one was safe and asleep in his bed 

Who at the bridge would be first to fall. 

Who that day would be lying dead, 

Pierced by a British musket-ball. 



i64 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

You know the rest. In the books you have read, 
How the British Regulars fired and fled, — 
How the farmers gave them ball for ball. 
From behind each fence and farm-yard wall, 
Chasing the red-coats down the lane, 
Then crossing the fields to emerge again 
Under the trees at the turn of the road. 
And only pausing to fire and load. 

So through the night rode Paul Revere; 

And so through the night went his cry of alarm 

To every Middlesex village and farm, — 

A cry of defiance and not of fear, 

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, 

And a word that shall echo f orevermore ! 

For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, 

Through all our history, to the last, 

In the hour of darkness and peril and need. 

The people will waken and listen to hear 

The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed. 

And the midnight message of Paul Revere. 



HYMN 

SY RALPH WALDO EMERSON 

(This poem was written to be sung at the completion of 
the Concord Monument, April 19, 1836.) 

By the rude bridge that arched the flood. 
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, 

Here once the embattled farmers stood. 
And fired the shot heard round the world. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 165 

The foe long since in silence slept; 

Alike the conqueror silent sleeps ; 
And Time the ruined bridge has swept 

Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. 

On this green bank, by this soft stream, 

We set to-day a votive stone ; 
That memory may their deed redeem 

When, like our sires, our sons are gone. 

Spirit, that made those heroes dare 

To die, or leave their children free, 
Bid Time and Nature gently spare 

The shaft we raise to them and thee. 



A SONG FOR LEXINGTON 

BY ROBERT KELLEY WEEKS 

The spring came earlier on 
Than usual that year; 
The shadiest snow was gone. 
The slowest brook was clear. 
And warming in the sun 
Shy flowers began to peer. 

'Twas more like middle May, 
The earth so seemed to thrive, 
That Nineteenth April day 
Of Seventeen Seventy-Five ; 
Winter was well away. 
New England was ahve! 



i66 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Alive and sternly glad ! 

Her doubts were with the snow ; 

Her courage, long forbade, 

Ran full to overflow ; 

And every hope she had 

Began to bud and grow. 

She rose betimes that morn, 
For there was work to do ; 
A planting, not of corn. 
Of what she hardly knew, — 
Blessings for men unborn ; 
And well she did it, too ! 

With open hand she stood, 
And sowed for all the years. 
And watered it with blood, 
And watered it with tears. 
The seed of quickening food 
For both the hemispheres. 

This was the planting done 
That April morn of fame ; 
Honor to every one 
To that seed-field that came ! 
Honor to Lexington, 
Our first immortal name ! 



THE REVOLUTIONARY ALARM 

BY GEORGE BANCROFT 

Darkness closed upon the country and upon the 
town, but it was no night for sleep. Heralds on swift 
relays of horses transmitted the war-message from 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 167 

hand to hand, till village repeated it to village ; the 
sea to the backwoods ; the plains to the highlands ; 
and it was never suffered to droop till it had been 
borne North and South, and East and West, through- 
out the land. 

It spread over the bays that receive the Saco and 
the Penobscot. Its loud reveille broke the rest of the 
trappers of New Hampshire, and, ringing like bugle- 
notes from peak to peak, overleapt the Green Moun- 
tains, swept onward to Montreal, and descended the 
ocean river, till the responses were echoed from the 
cliffs of Quebec. The hills along the Hudson told to 
one another the tale. 

As the summons hurried to the south, it was one day 
at New York ; in one more at Philadelphia ; the next 
it lighted a watchfire at Baltimore; thence it waked 
an answer at Annapolis. Crossing the Potomac near 
Mount Vernon, it was sent forward without a halt to 
Williamsburg. It traversed the Dismal Swamp to 
Nansemond, along the route of the first emigrants to 
North Carolina. It moved onwards and still onwards, 
through boundless groves of evergreen, to New-Berne 
and to Wilmington. 

" For God's sake, forward it by night and by day," 
wrote Cornelius Harnett, by the express which sped 
for Brunswick. Patriots of South Carolina caught up 
its tones at the border and despatched it to Charleston, 
and through pines and palmettos and moss-clad live- 
oaks, farther to the south, till it resounded among the 
New England settlements beyond Savannah. 

The Blue Ridge took up the voice, and made it 
heard from one end to the other of the valley of 
Virginia. The Alleghanies, as they listened, opened 
their barriers, that the " loud call " might pass through 



i68 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

to the hardy riflemen on the Holston, the Watauga, 
and the French Broad. Ever renewing its strength, 
powerful enough even to create a commonwealth, it 
breathed its inspiring word to the first settlers of Ken- 
tucky; so that hunters who made their halt in the 
matchless valley of the Elkhorn commemorated the 
19th day of April, 1775, by naming their encampment 
Lexington. 

With one impulse the colonies sprung to arms ; with 
one spirit they pledged themselves to each other " to 
be ready for the extreme event." With one heart the 
continent cried, " Liberty or Death ! " 



THE VOLUNTEER 

BY ELBRIDGE JEFFERSON CUTLER 

" At dawn," he said, " I bid them all farewell, 
To go where bugles call and rifles gleam." 

And with the restless thought asleep he fell, 
And glided into dream. 

A great hot plain from sea to mountain spread,- 
Through it a level river slowly drawn ; 

He moved with a vast crowd, and at its head 
Streamed banners like the dawn. 

There came a blinding flash, a deafening roar, 
And dissonant cries of triumph and dismay ; 

Blood trickled down the river's reedy shore, 
And with the dead he lay. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 169 

The morn broke in upon his solemn dreams, 
And still with steady pulse and deepening eye, 

" Where bugles call," he said, " and rifles gleam, 
I follow, though I die ! " 

Wise youth ! By few is glory's wreath attained ; 

But death, or late or soon, awaiteth all, 
To fight in Freedom's cause is something gained, — 

And nothinsf lost to fall. 



TICONDEROGA 

(May 10, I77S-) 

BY V. B. WILSON 

The cold, gray light of the dawning 

On old Carillon falls. 
And dim in the mist of the morning 

Stand the grim old fortress walls. 
No sound disturbs the stillness 

Save the cataract's mellow roar. 
Silent as death is the fortress, 

Silent the misty shore. 

But up from the wakening waters 

Comes the cool, fresh morning breeze 
Lifting the banner of Britain, 

And whispering to the trees 
Of the swift gliding boats on the waters 

That are nearing the fog-shrouded land. 
With the old Green Mountain Lion, 

And his daring patriot band. 



I70 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

But the sentinel at the postern 

Heard not the whisper low ; 
He is dreaming of the banks of the Shannon 

As he walks on his beat to and fro, 
Of the starry eyes in Green Erin 

That were dim when he marched away, 
And a tear down his bronzed cheek courses, 

'Tis the first for many a day. 



A sound breaks the misty stillness, 

And quickly he glances around ; 
Through the mist, forms like towering giants 

Seem rising out of the ground ; 
A challenge, the firelock flashes, 

A sword cleaves the quivering air, 
And the sentry lies dead by the postern, 

Blood staining his bright yellow hair. 



Then, with a shout that awakens 

All the echoes of hillside and glen. 
Through the low, frowning gate of the fortress. 

Sword in hand, rush the Green Mountain men. 
The scarce wakened troops of the garrison 

Yield up their trust pale with fear ; 
And down comes the bright British banner. 

And out rings a Green Mountain cheer. 



Flushed with pride, the whole eastern heavens 
With crimson and gold are ablaze ; 

And up springs the sun in his splendor 
And flings down his arrowy rays. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 171 

Bathing in sunlight the fortress, 

Turning to gold the grim walls, 
While louder and clearer and higher 

Rings the song of the waterfalls. 

Since the taking of Ticonderoga 

A century has rolled away; 
But with pride the nation remembers 

That glorious morning in May. 
And the cataract's silvery music 

Forever the story tells, 
Of the capture of old Carillon, 

The chime of the silver bells. 



WARREN'S ADDRESS 

(At the Battle of Bunker Hill.) 

BY JOHN PIERPONT 

Stand ! the ground's your own, my braves ! 
Will ye give it up to slaves? 
Will ye look for greener graves ? 

Hope ye mercy still ? 
What's the mercy despots feel ? 
Hear it in that battle peal ! 
Read it on yon bristling steel ! 

Ask it, — ye who will ! 

Fear ye foes who kill for hire? 
Will ye to your homes retire ? 
Look behind you! they're afire, 
And, before you, see 



172 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Who have done it ! — From the vale 
On they come ! — and will ye quail ? - 
Leaden rain and leaden hail 
Let their welcome be ! 



In the God of battles trust ! 
Die we may, — and die we must ; 
But oh, where can dust to dust 

Be consigned so well, 
As where Heaven its dews shall shed 
On the martyred patriot's bed, 
And the rocks shall raise their head 

Of his deeds to tell ! 



" THE LONELY BUGLE GRIEVES " 

(From an " Ode on the Celebration of the Battle of Bunker 
Hill, June 17, 1825.") 

BY GRENVILLE MELLEN 

The trump hath blown, 
And now upon that reeking hill 
Slaughter rides screaming on the vengeful ball ; 

While with terrific signal shrill, 
The vultures, from their bloody eyries flown, 
Hang o'er them like a pall. 
Now deeper roll the maddening drums. 
And the mingling host like ocean heaves : 

While from the midst a horrid wailing comes, 
And high above the fight the lonely bugle grieves ! 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 173 

THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL 
(From " Battles of the American Revolution.") 

The advance of the British army was Hke a solemn 
pageant in its steady headway, and hke a parade for 
inspection in the completeness of its outfit. It moved 
forward as if by the very force of its closely-knit 
columns it must sweep away every barrier in its path. 
Elated, sure of victory, with firm step, already quick- 
ened as the space of separation lessens, there is left 
but a few rods of interval, a few steps only, and the 
work is done ! But right in their way was a calm, 
intense, and energizing love of liberty, represented 
by men of the same blood and of equal daring. 

A few shots impulsively fired, but quickly restrained, 
drew an innocent fire from the advancing column. 
But the pale men behind the scant defense, obedient to 
one will, answered not. . . . The left wing is 
near the redoubt. It surely is nothing to surmount 
a bank of fresh earth but six feet high ; and its 
sands and clods can almost be counted, it is so near, 
so easy, sure! Short, crisp, and earnest, low-toned, 
but felt as an electric pulse from redoubt to river, are 
the words of a single man, Prescott. Warren, by his 
side, repeats them. The word runs quickly along the 
impatient line. The eager fingers give back from the 
waiting trigger. " Steady, men ! Wait until you see 
the white of the eye! Not a shot sooner! Aim at 
the handsome coats ! Aim at the waistbands ! Pick 
ofif the ofiicers! Wait for the word, every man! 
Steady!" 

Already those plain men, so patient, can count the 



174 INDEPENDENCE DAY . 

buttons, can read the emblems on the belt-plate, can 
recognize the officers and men whom they have seen at 
parade on Boston Common. Features grow more and 
more distinct. The silence is awful ! These men seem 
breathless, — dead ! It comes, that word, the word 
waited for, — " Fire ! " That word had waited behind 
the center and the left wing, where Putnam watched, 
as it lingered behind breastwork and redoubt. Sharp, 
clear, and deadly, in tone and essence, it rings forth, — 
" Fire ! " 

From redoubt to river, along the whole sweep of 
devouring flame, the forms of men wither as in a fur- 
nace heat. The whole front goes down. For an in- 
stant the chirp of the grasshopper and the cricket in 
the freshly-cut grass might almost be heard ; then the 
groans of the suffering; then the shouts of impatient 
yeomen, who leap over obstacles to pursue until re- 
called to silence and to duty. 

Staggering but reviving, grand in the glory of their 
manhood, heroic in the fortitude which restores self- 
possession, with a steady step, in the face of fire and 
over the bodies of their dead, the remnant dare to re- 
new battle. Again the deadly volley ; and the shat- 
tered columns, in spite of entreaty or command, move 
back to the place of starting, and the first shock of 
battle is over. 

A lifetime when it is past seems but as a moment! 
A moment sometimes is as a lifetime. Onset and re- 
pulse ! Three hundred lifetimes ended in twenty 
minutes ! 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 175 
THE MARYLAND BATTALION 

BY JOHN" WILLIAMSON PALMER 

Spruce Macaronis, and pretty to see, 

Tidy and dapper and gallant were we ; 

Blooded, fine gentlemen, proper and tall. 

Bold in a fox-hunt and gay at a ball ; 

Prancing soldados so martial and bluff. 

Billets for bullets, in scarlet and buff — 

But our cockades were clasped with a mother's low 

prayer. 
And the sweethearts that braided the sword-knots were 

fair. 

There was grummer of drums humming hoarse in the 

hills, 
And the bugle sang f anfaron down by the mills ; 
By Flatbush the bagpipes were droning amain. 
And keen cracked the rifles in Martense's lane ; 
For the Hessians were flecking the hedges with red, 
And the grenadiers' tramp marked the roll of the dead. 

Three to one, flanked and rear, flashed the files of St. 

George. 
The fierce gleam of their steel as the glow of a forge. 
The brutal boom-boom of their swart cannoneers 
Was sweet music compared with the taunt of their 

cheers — 
For the brunt of their onset, our crippled array, 
And the light of God's leading gone out in the fray ! 



176 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Oh, the rout on the left and the tug on the right ! 
The mad plunge of the charge and the wreck of the 

flight ! 
When the cohorts of Grant held stout Stirling at strain, 
And the mongrels of Hesse went tearing the slain ; 
"When at Freeke's Mill the flumes and the sluices ran 

red, 
And the dead choked the dyke and the marsh choked 

the dead ! 



" O Stirling, good Stirling ! how long must we wait ? 
Shall the shout of your trumpet unleash us too late ? 
Have you never a dash for brave Mordecai Gist, 
With his heart in his throat, and his blade in his fist ? 
Are we good for no more than to prance in a ball, 
When the drums beat the charge and the clarions 
call?" 

Tralara ! Tralara ! Now praise we the Lord 

For the clang of His call and the flash of His sword ! 

Tralara ! Tralara ! Now forward to die ; 

For the banner, hurrah ! and for sweethearts, good- 

by! 
" Four hundred wild lads ! " Maybe so. I'll be bound 
'Twill be easy to count us, face up, on the ground. 
If we hold the road open, tho' Death take the toll, 
We'll be missed on parade when the States call the 

roll — 
When the flags meet in peace and the guns are at rest, 
And fair Freedom is singing Sweet Home in the West. 



STRUGGLE FOR .INDEPENDENCE 177 

THE BATTLE OF TRENTON 
(Dec. 26, 1776,) 

ANONYMOUS AND CONTEMPORARY 

On Christmas-day in seventy-six, 
Our ragged troops with bayonets fixed, 

For Trenton march away. 
The Delaware see ! the boats below ! 
The light obscured by hail and snow ! 

But no signs of dismay. 

Our object was the Hessian band, 
That dared invade fair freedom's land, 

And quarter in that place. 
Great Washington he led us on. 
Whose streaming flag, in storm or sun. 

Had never known disgrace. 

In silent march we passed the night. 
Each soldier panting for the fight, 

Though quite benumbed with frost. 
Greene, on the left, at six began. 
The right was led by Sullivan, 

Who ne'er a moment lost. 

The pickets stormed, the alarm was spread. 
The rebels risen from the dead 

Were marching into town. 
Some scampered here, some scampered there. 
And some for action did prepare ; 

But soon their arms laid down. 



178 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Twelve hundred servile miscreants, 
With all their colors, guns, and tents, 

Were trophies of the day. 
The frolic o'er, the bright canteen 
In center, front, and rear was seen 

Driving fatigue away. 

Now brothers of the patriot bands, 
Let's sing deliverance from the hands 

Of arbitrary sway, 
And as our life is but a span, 
Let's touch the tankard while we can, 

In memory of that day. 



COLUMBIA 

BY TIMOTHY DWIGHT 

(Written during the author's services as an army chaplain, 
1777-78.) 

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise. 

The queen of the world, and the child of the skies ; 

Thy genius commands thee ; with rapture behold. 

While ages on ages thy splendor unfold ! 

Thy reign is the last, and the noblest of time. 

Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy clime ; 

Let the crimes of the East ne'er encrimson thy name, 

Be freedom, and science, and virtue thy fame. 

To conquest and slaughter let Europe aspire ; 
Whelm nations in blood, and wrap cities in fire ; 
Thy heroes the rights of mankind shall defend. 
And triumph pursue them, and glory attend; 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 179 

A world is thy realm : for a world be thy laws, 
Enlarged as thine empire, and just as thy cause; 
On Freedom's broad basis, that empire shall rise, 
Extend with the main, and dissolve with the skies. 

Fair science her gates to thy sons shall unbar, 

And the east shall with morn hide the beams of her 

star. 
New bards, and new sages, unrivaled shall soar 
To fame unextinguished, when time is no more ; 
To thee, the last refuge of virtue designed, 
Shall fly, from all nations the best of mankind ; 
Here, grateful to heaven, with transport shall bring 
Their incense, more fragrant than odors of spring. 

Nor less shall thy fair ones to glory ascend, 
And genius and beauty in harmony blend; 
The graces of form shall awake pure desire, 
And the charms of the soul ever cherish the fire; 
Their sweetness unmingled, their manners refined. 
The virtue's bright image, instamped on the mind. 
With peace and soft rapture shall teach life to glow, 
And light up a smile in the aspect of woe. 

Thy fleets to all regions thy power shall display, 
The nations admire and the ocean obey ; 
Each shore to thy glory its tribute imfold, 
And the East and the South yield their spices and gold. 
As the day-spring unbounded, thy splendor shall flow, 
And earth's little kingdoms before thee shall bow ; 
While the ensigns of union, in triumph unfurled, 
Hush the tumult of war and give peace to the world. 



i8o INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Thus, as down a lone valley, with cedars o'erspread. 
From war's dread confusion I pensively strayed. 
The gloom from the face of fair heaven retired ; 
The winds ceased to murmur ; the thunders expired ; 
Perfumes as of Eden flowed sweetly along, 
And a voice as of angels enchantingly sung: 
*' Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise. 
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies." 



THE FIGHTING PARSON ^ 

BY HENRY AMES BLOOD 

It was brave young Parson Webster, 

His father a parson before him, 
And here in this town of Temple 

The people used to adore him ; 
And the minute-men from all quarters 

That morning had grounded their arms 
'Round the meeting-house on the hilltop. 

Looking down on Temple farms. 

Dear to the Puritan soldier 

The food which his meeting-house offered, 
And especially dear the fine manna 

Which the young Temple minister proffered ; 
And believe as he might in his firelock. 

His bayonet, or his sword. 
The minute-man's heart was hopeless 

If not filled with the strength of the Lord. 

^ The Century Co., N. Y., publishers. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE i8i 

The minute-man ever and always 

Waited the signal of warning, 
And he never dreamed in the evening 

Where his prayers would ascend the next morn- 
ing; 
And they even said that the parson 

Undoubtedly preached his best 
When his musket stood in the pulpit 

Ready for use with the rest. 

Sad was the minister's message, 

And many a heart beat faster, 
And many a soft eye glistened, 

Whenever the voice of the pastor 
Dwelt on the absent dear ones 

Who had followed their country's call 
To the distant camp, or the battle, 

Or the frowning fortress-wall. 

And now when near to " fifteenthly," 

And the urchins thought of their luncheon, 
And into the half-curtained windows 

Hotter and hotter the sun shone, 
And the redbreast dozed in the branches, 

And the crow on the pine tree's top. 
And the squirrel was lost in his musings, 

The sermon came to a stop. 

For sharp on the turnpike the clatter 

Of galloping hoofs resounded, / 

And the granite ring of the roadway 
Louder and louder sounded ; 



i82 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

And now no longer the redbreast 
Was inclined to be dull that day, 

And now no longer the sexton ' 

Slept in his usual way. 

But all sprang up on the instant, 

And the widest of eyes grew wider, 
While on towards the porch, like a tempest, 

Came sweeping the horse and its rider ; 
And now from the din of the hoof-beats 

A trumpet voice leapt out, 
And, tingling to its rafters. 

The church was alive with the shout, — 

" Burgoyne's at Ticonderoga : 

Would you have the old fort surrender ? " 
" No, no ! " cried the parson ; " New Hampshire 

Will send the last man to defend her ! " 
But before he could shoulder his musket 

A Tory sang up from below, 
" I hear a great voice out of heaven, sir. 

Warning us not to go." 

Quick from the pulpit descending, 

With the agile step of a lion, — 
" The voice you hear is from hell, sir ! " 

Replied the young servant of Zion. 
- And out through the open doorway, 

And on past the porch he strode. 
And the congregation came after, 

And gathered beside the road. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 183 

Sadly enough the colonel, 

The minute-men all arraying, 
From the dusty cocked hat of the rider 

Drew the lots for going or staying. 
Then waving his hat as he took it, 

And putting the spurs to his mare. 
The stranger rode off to New Ipswich 

In a cheering that rent the air. 



Worse than the shock of battle, 

Now came the sad leave-taking, 
And to mothers and maids and matrons 

The deepest of grief and heart-aching ; 
And far on the road through the mountains 

Whence the rider had just come. 
They followed the minute-men marching 

To the sound of the fife and the drum. 



Long dead have they been who sat there 

At that feast of things eternal — 
Long dead the laymen, the deacons. 

The lawyer, the doctor, the colonel; 
Long dead the youths and the maidens, 

And long on the graves of all 
Have the summers and the winters 

Their leaves and their snows let fall. 



But whenever I come to the churchyard, 
Where, by the side of the pastor. 

They afterwards laid the colonel, 
His friend in success and disaster, 



i84 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

I see again on the Common 

The minute-men all in array, 
And again I behold the departure, 

The pastor leading the way. 

And I think of the scene when his comrades 

Brought back the young pastor, dying, 
To his home in the house of the colonel ; 

And how, on his death-bed lying. 
He took the hand that was offered, 

And, gazing far into the night, 
Whispered, " I die for my country — 

I have fought — I have fought the good fight." 



' THE SARATOGA LESSON 

(From an Address delivered October 17, 1877.) 
BY GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS 

The drama of the Revolution opened in New Eng- 
land, culminated in New York, and closed in Virginia. 
It was a happy fortune that the three colonies which 
represented the various territorial sections of the set- 
tled continent were each, in turn, the chief seat of war. 
The common sacrifice, the common struggle, the com- 
mon triumph, tended to weld them locally, politically, 
and morally together. Doubtless there were conflicts 
of provincial pride and jealousy and suspicion. In 
every great crisis of war, however, there was a com- 
mon impulse and devotion, and the welfare of the 
continent obliterated provincial lines. 

It is by the few heaven-piercing peaks, not by the 
confused mass of upland, that we measure the height 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 185 

of the Andes, of the Alps, of the Himalaya. It is by 
Joseph Warren not by Benjamin Church, by John Jay 
not by Sir John Johnson, by George Washington not 
by Benedict Arnold, that we test the quality of the 
Revolutionary character. The voice of Patrick Henry 
from the mountains answered that of James Otis by 
the sea. Paul Revere's lantern shone along through 
the valley of the Hudson, and flashed along the cliffs 
of the Blue Ridge. The scattering volley of Lexing- 
ton green swelled to the triumphant thunder of Sara- 
toga, and the reverberation of Burgoyne's falling anns 
in New York shook those of Cornwallis in Virginia 
from his hands. Doubts, jealousies, prejudices, were 
merged in one common devotion. The union of the 
colonies to secure liberty, foretold the union of the 
States to maintain it, and wherever we stand on Revo- 
lutionary fields, or inhale the sweetness of Revolution- 
ary memories, we tread the ground and breathe the air 
of invincible national union. 

So, upon this famous and decisive field, let every 
unworthy feeling perish ! Here, to the England that 
we fought let us now, grown great and strong with a 
hundred years, hold out the hand of fellowship and 
peace ! Here, where the English Burgoyne, in the 
very moment of his bitter humiliation generously 
pledged George Washington, let us, in our high hour 
of triumph, of power, and of hope, pledge the queen! 
Here, in the grave of brave and unknown foemen, may 
mutual jealousies and doubts and animosities lie buried 
forever ! Henceforth, revering their common glorious 
traditions, may England, and America press forward 
side by side, in noble and inspiring rivalry to promote 
the welfare of man ! 

Fellow-citizens, with the story of Burgoyne's sur- 



i86 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

render, the Revolutionary glory of the State of New 
York, still fresh in our memories, I am glad that the 
hallowed spot on which we stand compels us to re- 
member not only the imperial State, but the national 
Commonwealth, whose young hands here together 
struck the blow, and on whose older head descends the 
ample benediction of the victory. On yonder height, 
a hundred years ago, Virginia and Pennsylvania lay 
encamped. Beyond, and further to the north, watched 
New Hampshire and Vermont. Here, in the wooded 
uplands at the south, stood New Jersey and New York, 
while across the river to the east, Connecticut and 
Massachusetts closed the triumphant line. Here was 
the symbol of the Revolution, a common cause, a com- 
mon strife, a common triumph; the cause, not of a 
class, but of human nature; the triumph, not of a 
colony, but of united America. 

And we who stand here proudly remembering, we 
who have seen Virginia and New York, the North and 
the South, more bitterly hostile than the armies whose 
battles shook this ground, we who mutually proved in 
deadlier conflict the constancy and courage of all the 
States, which, proud to be peers, yet own no master 
but their united selves, we renew our heart's imperish- 
able devotion to the common American faith, the com- 
mon American pride, the common American glory ! 
Here America stood and triumphed. Here Americans 
stand and bless their memory. And here, for a thou- 
sand years, many grateful generations of Americans 
come to rehearse the glorious story, and to rejoice in a 
supreme and benignant American nationality ! 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 187 



THE SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE 

BY JAMES WATTS DE PEYSTER 
(Extract from Centennial Poem, read October 17, 1877.) 

Brothers, this spot is holy ! Look around ! 

Before us flows our memory's sacred river, 
Whose banks are Freedom's shrines. This grassy 
mound, 

The altar, on whose height the Mighty Giver 
Gave Independence to our country ; when. 
Thanks to its brave, enduring, patient men. 
The invading host was brought to bay, and laid 
Beneath " Old Glory's " new-born folds, the blade, 
The brazen thunder-throats, the pomp of War, 
And England's yoke, broken forevermore. 

Yes, on this spot, — thanks to our gracious God, — 
Where last in conscious arrogance it trod. 
Defiled, as captives, Burgoyne's conquered horde ; 
Below, their general yielded up his sword ; 
There, to our flag bowed England's, battle-torn ; 
Where now we stand, the United States was born. 



THE SARATOGA MONUMENT BEGUN 

BY HORATIO SEYMOUR 
(From Address delivered October 17, 1877.) 

One hundred years ago, on this spot, American in- 
dependence was made a great fact in the history of 
nations. Until the surrender of the British army un- 



i88 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

der Burgoyne, the Declaration of Independence was 
but a declaration. It was a patriotic purpose asserted 
in bold words by brave men, who pledged for its main- 
tenance their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred 
honor. But here it was made a fact by virtue of 
armed force. It had been regarded by the world 
merely as an act of defiance, but it was now seen that 
it contained the germs of a government which the 
event we celebrate made one of the powers of the 
earth. Here rebellion was made revolution. Upon 
this ground, that which had in the eye of the law been 
treason, became triumphant patriotism. At the break 
of day, in the judgment of the world, our fathers were 
rebels. When the echoes of the evening gun died away 
along this valley, they were patriots who had rescued 
their country from wrong and outrage. We had 
passed through the baptism of blood, and gained a 
name among the nations of the earth. 

Before the Revolution the people of the several colo- 
nies held but little intercourse. They were estranged 
from each other by distance, by sectional prejudices, 
by differences of lineage and religious creeds. But 
when the men of Virginia went to Massachusetts to 
rescue Boston, when the men of the East and South 
battled side by side with those from the Middle States, 
when Greene and Lincoln went to the relief of the 
Southern colonies, all prejudices not only died away, 
but more than fraternal love animated every patriotic 
heart from the bleak forests of New England to the 
milder airs of Georgia. And now that a hundred 
years have passed, and our country has become great 
beyond the wildest dreams of our fathers, will not the 
story of their sufferings revive in the breast of all the 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 189 

love of our country, of our common country, and all 
who live within its boundaries? 

It was the most remarkable fact of the Revolution- 
ary War and of the formation of state and national 
governments, that although the colonists were of dif- 
ferent lineages and languages, living under different 
climates, with varied pursuits and forms of labor, cut 
off from intercourse by distance, yet, in spite of all 
these obstacles to accord, they were from the outset 
animated by common views, feelings, and purposes. 
When the independence was gained, they were able, 
after a few weeks spent in consultation, to form the 
constitution under which we have lived for nearly one 
hundred years. There can be no stronger proof that 
American institutions were born and shaped by Amer- 
ican necessities. This fact should give us new faith 
in the lasting nature of our government. 

Monuments make as well as mark the civilization of 
a people. The surrender of Burgoyne marks the 
dividing line between two conditions of our country : 
the one the colonial period of dependence, and the 
other the day from which it stood full-armed and vic- 
torious here, endowed with a boldness to assert its in- 
dependence, and endowed with a wisdom to frame its 
own system of government. We are told that during 
more than twenty centuries of war and bloodshed, only 
fifteen battles have been decisive of lasting results. 
The contest of Saratoga is one of them. Shall not 
some suitable structure recall this fact to the public 
mind? Neither France, nor Britain, nor Germany 
could spare the statues or works of art which keep 
alive the memory of patriotic services or of personal 
virtues. Such silent teachers of all that ennobles men, 



I90 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

have taught their lessons through the darkest ages, and 
have done much to save society from sinking into utter 
decay and degradation. If Greece or Rome had left 
no memorials of private virtues or public greatness, the 
progress of civilization would have been slow and 
feeble. If their crumbling remains should be swept 
away, the world would mourn the loss, not only to 
learning and the arts, but to virtue and patriotism. It 
concerns the honor and welfare of the American people 
that this spot should be marked by some structure 
which should recall its history and animate all, who 
look upon it, by its grand teachings. No people ever 
held lasting power or greatness who did not reverence 
the virtues of their fathers, or who did not show forth 
this reverence by material and striking testimonials. 

Let us, then, build here, a lasting monument, which 
shall tell of our gratitude to those who, through suf- 
fering and sacrifice, wrought out the independence of 
our country. 



MOLLY MAGUIRE AT MONMOUTH 

(June 28, 1778.) 

BY WILLIAM COLLINS 

On the bloody field of Monmouth 

Flashed the guns of Greene and Wayne, 
Fiercely roared the tide of battle, 

Thick the sward was heaped with slain. 
Foremost, facing death and danger, 

Hessian, horse, and grenadier. 
In the vanguard, fiercely fighting, 

Stood an Irish Cannonier. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 191 

Loudly roared his iron cannon, 

Mingling ever in the strife, 
And beside him, firm and daring, 

Stood his faithful Irish wife. 
Of her bold contempt of danger 

Greene and Lee's brigades could tell, 
Every one knew " Captain Molly," 

And the army loved her well. 

Surged the roar of battle round them, 

Swiftly flew the iron hail, 
Forward dashed a thousand bayonets, 

That lone battery to assail. 
From the foeman's foremost columns 

Swept a furious fusillade, 
Mowing down the massed battalions 

In the ranks of Greene's Brigade. 

Fast and faster worked the gunner. 

Soiled with powder, blood and dust, 
English bayonets shone before him. 

Shot and shell around him burst ; 
Still he fought with reckless daring. 

Stood and manned her long and well, 
Till at Lst the gallant fellow 

Dead — beside his cannon fell. 

With a bitter cry of sorrow, 

And a dark and angry frown. 
Looked that band of gallant patriots 

At their gunner stricken down. 
" Fall back, comrades, it is folly 

Thus to strive against the foe." 
" No ! not so," cried Irish Molly ; 

" We can strike another blow." 



192 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Quickly leaped she to the cannon, 

In her fallen husband's place, 
Sponged and rammed it fast and steady, 

Fired it in the foeman's face. 
Flashed another ringing volley, 

Roared another from the gun ; 
" Boys, hurrah ! " cried gallant Molly, 

" For the flag of Washington," 

Greene's Brigade, though shorn and shattered, 

Slain and bleeding half their men. 
When they heard that Irish slogan. 

Turned and charged the foe again. 
Knox and Wayne and Morgan rally. 

To the front they forward wheel, 
And before their rushing onset 

Clinton's English columns reel. 

Still the cannon's voice in anger 

Rolled and rattled o'er the plain, 
Till there lay in swarms around it 

Mangled heaps of Hessian slain. 
" Forward ! charge them with the bayonet ! " 

'Twas the voice of Washington, 
And there burst a fiery greeting 

From the Irish woman's gim. 

Monckton falls ; against his columns 

Leap the troops of Wayne and Lee, 
And before their reeking bayonets 

Clinton's red battalions flee. 
Morgan's rifles, fiercely flashing, 

Thin the foe's retreating ranks, 
And behind them onward dashing 

Ogden hovers on their flanks. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 193 

Fast they fly, these boasting Britons, 

Who in all their glory came, 
With their brutal Hessian hirelings 

To wipe out our country's name. 
Proudly floats the starry banner, 

Monmouth's glorious field is won, 
And in triumph Irish Molly, 

Stands beside her smoking gun. 



THE SOUTH IN THE REVOLUTION 

BY ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 

If there be one State in the Union, and I say it not 
in a boasting spirit, that may challenge comparison 
with any other, for an uniform, zealous, ardent, and un- 
calculating devotion to the Union, that State is South 
Carolina. 

From the very commencement of the Revolution, up 
to this hour, there is no sacrifice, however great, she 
has not cheerfully made, no service she has even hesi- 
tated to perform. She has adhered to you, in your 
prosperity ; but in your adversity she has clung to you 
with more than filial affection. No matter what was 
the condition of her domestic affairs, though deprived 
of her resources, divided by parties, or surrounded by 
difficulties, the call of the country has been to her as 
the voice of God. Domestic discord ceased at the 
sound ; every man became at once reconciled to his 
brethren, and the sons of Carolina were all seen crowd- 
ing together to the temple, bringing their gifts to the 
altar of their common country. 

What was the conduct of the South during the 



194 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Revolution? I honor New England for her conduct 
in that glorious struggle. But, great as is the praise 
which belongs to her, I think at least equal honor is due 
to the South. They espoused the quarrel of their 
brethren with a generous zeal which did not suffer 
them to stop to calculate their interest in the dispute. 
Favorites of the mother-country, possessed of neither 
ships nor seamen to create a commercial rivalship, 
they might have found, in their situation, a guarantee 
that their trade would be forever fostered and pro- 
tected by Great Britain. But, trampling on all con- 
siderations, either of interest or of safety, they rushed 
into the conflict ; and, fighting for principle, periled all 
in the sacred cause of freedom. Never was there ex- 
hibited in the history of the world higher examples of 
noble daring, dreadful sufifering, and heroic endurance 
than by the Whigs of Carolina during the Revolution ! 
The whole state, from the mountains to the sea, was 
overrun by an overwhelming force of the enemy. The 
fruits of industry perished on the spot where they were 
produced, or were consumed by the foe. The " Plains 
of Carolina " drank up the most precious blood of her 
citizens. Black and smoking ruins marked the places 
which had been the habitations of her children. Driven 
from their homes, into the gloomy and almost impene- 
trable swamps, even there the spirit of liberty survived, 
and South Carolina, sustained by the example of her 
Sumters and her Marions, proved, by her conduct, that, 
though her soil might be overrun, the spirit of her 
people was invincible. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 195 



THE SONG OF MARION'S MEN 
(1780-1781.) 

BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 

While the British Army held South Carolina, Marion and 
Sumter gathered bands of partisans and waged a vigorous 
guerilla warfare most harassing and destructive to the in- 
vader. 

Our band is few, but true and tried. 

Our leader frank and bold ; 
The British soldier trembles 

When Marion's name is told. 
Our fortress is the good greenwood 

Our tent the cypress-tree ; 
We know the forest round us, 

As seamen know the sea. 
We know its walls of thorny vines. 

Its glades of reedy grass, 
Its safe and silent islands 

Within the dark morass. 



Wo to the English soldiery. 

That little dread us near ! 
On them shall light at midnight 

A strange and sudden fear : 
When, waking to their tents on fire 

They grasp their arms in vain, 
And they who stand to face us 

Are beat to earth again. 



196 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

And they who fly in terror deem 

A mighty host behind, 
And hear the tramp of thousands 

Upon the hollow wind. 

Then sweet the hour that brings release 

From danger and from toil ; 
We talk the battle over, 

And share the battle's spoil. 
The woodland rings with laugh and shout, 

As if a hunt were up, 
And woodland flowers are gathered 

To crown the soldier's cup. 
With merry songs we mock the wind 

That in the pine-top grieves, 
And slumber long and sweetly 

On beds of oaken leaves. 

Well knows the fair and friendly moon 

The band that Marion leads — 
The glitter of their rifles, 

The scampering of their steeds. 
'Tis life to guide the fiery barb 

Across the moonlight plain ; 
'Tis life to feel the night-wind 

That lifts his tossing mane. 
A moment in the British camp — 

A moment — and away 
Back to the pathless forest, 

Before the peep of day. 

Grave men there are by broad Santee, 
Grave men with hoary hairs ; 

Their hearts are all with Marion, 
For Marion are their prayers. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 197 

And lovely ladies greet our band 

With kindliest welcoming, 
With smiles like those of summer. 

And tears like those of spring. 
For them we wear these trusty arms, 

And lay them down no more 
Till we have driven down the Briton, 

Forever, from our shore. 



OUR COUNTRY SAVED* 

BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 

(Extract from Ode recited at the Harvard Commemoration, 
July 21, 1865.) 

Boom, cannon, boom to all the winds and waves ! 
Clash out, glad bells, from every rocking steeple ! 

Banners, advance with triumph, bend your staves ! 
And from every mountain-peak 
Let beacon-fire to answering beacon speak, 
Katahdin tell Monadnock, Whiteface he, 

And so leap on in light from sea to sea, 
Till the glad news be sent 
Across a kindling continent, 

Making earth feel more firm and air breathe braver : 

Be proud ! for she is saved, and all have helped to save 
her! 
She that lifts up the manhood of the poor, 
She of the open soul and open door. 
With room about her hearth for all mankind ! 
The fire is dreadful in her eyes no more ; 
From her bold front the helm she doth unbind, 
Sends all her handmaid armies back to spin, 



198 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

And bids her navies, that so lately hurled 
Their crashing battle, to hold their thunders in, 

Swimming like birds of calm along the unhannful 
shore. 
No challenge sends she to the older world, 
That looked askance and hatred ; a light scorn 
Plays o'er her mouth, as round her mighty knees 
She calls her children back, and waits the morn 

Of nobler days, enthroned between her subject seas. 

Bow down, dear land, for thou hast found release ! 

Thy God, in these distempered days. 

Hath taught thee the sure wisdom of His ways, 
And through thine enemies hath wrought thee peace ! 

Bow down in prayer and praise ! 
No poorest in thy borders but may now 
Lift to the juster skies a man's enfranchised brow. 
O Beautiful ! my Country ! ours once more ! 
Smoothing thy gold of war-disheveled hair 
O'er such sweet brows as never other wore, 

And letting thy set lips 

Freed from wrath's pale eclipse, 
The rosy edges of their smile lay bare ; 
What words divine of lover or of poet 
Could tell our love and make thee know it. 
Among the nations bright beyond compare? 

What were our lives without thee ? 

What all our lives to save thee ? 

We reck not what we gave thee ; 

We will not dare to doubt thee. 
But ask whatever else, and we will dare ! 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 199 
NEW ENGLAND AND VIRGINIA 

BY ROBERT CHARLES WINTHROP 

There are circumstances of peculiar and beautiful 
correspondence in the careers of Virginia and New- 
England which must ever constitute a bond of sym- 
pathy, affection, and pride between their children. Not 
only did they form respectively the great northern and 
southern rallying points of civilization on this conti- 
nent; not only was the most friendly competition or 
the most cordial cooperation, as circumstances allowed, 
kept up between them during their early colonial ex- 
istence — but who forgets the generous emulation, the 
noble rivalry, with which they continually challenged 
and seconded each other in resisting the first begin- 
nings of British aggression, in the persons of their 
James Otises and Patrick Henrys? 

Who forgets that while that resistance was first 
brought to a practical test in New England, at Lexing- 
ton and Concord and Bunker Hill, Fortune reserved 
for Yorktown of Virginia the last crowning battle of 
Independence? Who forgets that while the hand by 
which the original Declaration of Independence was 
drafted, was furnished by Virginia, the tongue by 
which the adoption of that instrument was defended 
and secured, was furnished by New England, — a bond 
of common glory, upon which not Death alone seemed 
to set his seal, but Deity, I had almost said, to affix 
an immortal sanction, when the spirits by which that 
hand and voice were moved, were caught up together 
to the clouds on the same great Day of the Nation's 
Jubilee. 



VI 
SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 



AMERICA 1 

BY S. F. SMITH 

My country, 'tis of Thee, 
Sweet Land of Liberty 

Of thee I sing; 
Land where my fathers died, 
Land of the pilgrims' pride, 
From every moimtain side 

Let Freedom ring. 

My native country, thee. 
Land of the noble free. 

Thy name I love ; 
I love thy rocks and rills, 
Thy woods and templed hills, 
My heart with rapture thrills 

Like that above. 

1 The origin of the words of the patriotic hymn, " Amer- 
ica," has been somewhat recently celebrated by an anniversary. 
The air, as is well known, is that of the national anthem of 
England, " God Save the King." As such it has been in use, 
in one form- or another, since the middle of the last century. 

In 1832, Dr. S. F. Smith came upon it in a " book of Ger- 
man music," and on the spur of the moment, as it appears, 
wrote for it the hymn "America." This was in Andover, 
Mass., in February, 1832. The hymn zvas first sung publicly 
at a children's celebration at the Park Street Church, Boston, 
on July 4th of that year. 

"If I had anticipated the future of if, doubtless, I should 
have taken more pains with it," wrote Doctor Smith, in 1872. 
" Such as it is, I am glad to have contributed this mite to 
the cause of American freedom." 

203 



204 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Let music swell the breeze, 
And ring from all the trees 

Sweet Freedom's song ; 
Let mortal tongues awake ; 
Let all that breathe partake ; 
Let rocks their silence break, 

The sound prolong. 



Our fathers' God to Thee, 
Author of Liberty, 

To thee we sing, 
Long may our land be bright 
With Freedom's holy light. 
Protect us by thy might 

Great God, our King. 

Our glorious Land to-day, 
'Neath Education's sway. 

Soars upward still. 
Its halls of learning fair. 
Whose bounties all may share, 
Behold them everywhere 

On vale and hill ! 



Thy safeguard. Liberty, 
The school shall ever be, — 

Our Nation's pride ! 
No tyrant hand shall smite, 
While with encircling might 
All here are taught the Right 

With Truth allied. 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 205 

Beneath Heaven's gracious will 
The stars of progress still 

Our course do sway ; 
In unity sublime 
To broader heights we climb, 
Triumphant over Time, 

God speeds our way ! 

Grand birthright of our sires, 
Our altars and our fires 

Keep we still pure ! 
Our starry flag unfurled, 
The hope of all the world. 
In Peace and Light impearled, 

God hold secure ! 



THE REPUBLIC 

(From "The Building of the Ship.") 

BY HENRY W.VDSWORTH LONGFELLOW 

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State! 

Sail on, O Union, strong and great ! 

Humanity with all its fears, 

With all the hopes of future years, 

Is hanging breathless on thy fate ! 

We know what Master laid thy keel. 

What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel. 

Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, 

What anvils rang, what hammers beat. 

In what a forge and what a heat 

Were shaped the anchors of thy hope ! 



2o6 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Fear not each sudden sound and shock, 

'Tis of the wave and not the rock ; 

'Tis but the flapping of the sail, 

And not a rent made by the gale ! 

In spite of rock and tempest's roar, 

In spite of false lights on the shore, 

Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea ! 

Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee, 

Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, 

Our faith triumphant o'er our fears. 

Are all with thee, — are all with thee ! 



THE ANTIQUITY OF FREEDOM 

BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 

Here are old trees, tall oaks, and gnarled pines, 
That stream with gray-green mosses ; here the ground 
Was never trenched by spade, and flowers spring up 
Unsown, and die ungathered. It is sweet 
To linger here, among the flitting birds 
And leaping squirrels, wandering brooks, and winds 
That shake the leaves, and scatter, as they pass, 
A fragrance from the cedars, thickly set 
With pale blue berries. In these peaceful shades — 
Peaceful, unpruned, immeasurably old — 
My thoughts go up the long dim path of years. 
Back to the earliest days of liberty. 

O Freedom ! thou art not, as poets dream, 
A fair young girl, with light and delicate limbs, 
And wavy tresses gushing from the cap 
With which the Roman master crowned his slave 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 207 

When he took off the gyves. A bearded man, 

Armed to the teeth, art thou ; one mailed hand 

Grasps the broad shield, and one the sword ; thy brow, 

Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarred 

With tokens of old wars ; thy massive limbs 

Are strong with struggling. Power at thee has 

launched 
His bolts, and with his lightnings smitten thee ; 
They could not quench the life thou hast from heaven ; 
Merciless Power has dug thy dungeon deep, 
And his swart armorers, by a thousand fires, 
Have forged thy chain ; yet, while he deems thee 

bound, 
The links are shivered, and the prison walls 
Fall outward ; terribly thou springest forth, 
As springs the flame above a burning pile, 
And shoutest to the nations, who return 
Thy shoutings, while the pale oppressor flies. 

Thy birthright was not given by human hands : 
Thou wert twin-born with man. In pleasant fields. 
While yet our race was few, thou sat'st with him, 
To tend the quiet flock and watch the stars, 
And teach the reed to utter simple airs. 
Thou by his side, amid the tangled wood, 
Didst war upon the panther and the wolf. 
His only foes ; and thou with him didst draw 
The earliest furrow on the mountain's side. 
Soft with the deluge. Tyranny himself. 
Thy enemy, although of reverend look. 
Hoary with many years, and far obeyed. 
Is later born than thou ; and as he meets 
The grave defiance of thine elder eye. 
The usurper trembles in his fastnesses. 



2o8 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Thou shalt wax stronger with the lapse of years, 
But he shall fade into a feebler age — 
Feebler, yet subtler. He shall weave his snares, 
And spring them on thy careless steps, and clap 
His withered hands, and from their ambush call 
His hordes to fall upon thee. He shall send 
Quaint maskers, wearing fair and gallant forms 
To catch thy gaze, and uttering graceful words 
To charm they ear ; while his sly imps, by stealth, 
Twine round thee threads of steel, Hght thread on 

thread. 
That grow to fetters ; or bind down thy arms 
With chains concealed in chaplets. Oh ! not yet 
Mayst thou unbrace thy corselet, nor lay by 
Thy sword ; nor yet, O Freedom ! close thy lids 
In slumber; for thine enemy never sleeps, 
And thou must watch and combat till the day 
Of the new earth and heaven. 



AMERICA 

BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 

Oh, mother of a mighty race, 
Yet lovely in thy youthful grace ! 
The elder dames, thy haughty peers, 
Admire and hate thy blooming years. 

With words of shame 
And taunts of scorn they join thy name. 

For on thy cheeks the glow is spread 
That tints thy morning hills with red ; 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 209 

Thy step — the wild deer's rustling feet 
Within thy woods are not more fleet ; 

Thy hopeful eye 
Is bright as thine own sunny sky. 

Aye, let them rail — those haughty ones, 
While safe thou dwellest with thy sons. 
They do not know how loved thou art, 
How many a fond and fearless heart 

Would rise to throw 
Its life between thee and the foe. 



They know not, in their hate and pride, 
What virtues with thy children bide ; 
How true, how good, thy graceful maids 
Make bright, like flowers, the valley shades ; 

What generous men 
Spring, like thine oaks, by hill and glen ; — 

What cordial welcomes greet the guest 
By thy lone rivers of the West ; 
How faith is kept, and truth revered. 
And man is loved, and God is feared. 

In woodland homes. 
And where the ocean border foams. 

There's freedom at thy gates and rest 
For Earth's down-trodden and opprest, 
A shelter for the hunted head. 
For the starved laborer toil and bread. 

Power, at thy bounds, 
Stops and calls back his bafifled hounds. 



2IO INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Oh, fair young mother ! on thy brow 
Shall sit a nobler grace than now. 
Deep in the brightness of the skies 
The thronging years in glory rise, 

And, as they fleet, 
Drop strength and riches at thy feet. 

Thine eye, with every coming hour, 
Shall brighten, and thy form shall tower ; 
And when thy sisters, elder born. 
Would brand thy name with words of scorn, 

Before thine eye. 
Upon their lips the taunt shall die. 



ODE 

BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON 
(Sung in the Town Hall, Concord, July 4, 1857.) 

O TENDERLY tbe liaughty day 

Fills his blue urn with fire ; 
One morn is in the mighty heaven, 

And one in our desire. 

The cannon booms from town to town, 

Our pulses beat not less, 
The joy-bells chime their tidings down, 

Which children's voices bless. 

For He that flung the broad blue fold 

O'er-mantling land and sea, 
One third part of the sky unrolled 

For the banner of the free. 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 211 

The men are ripe of Saxon kind 

To build an equal state, — 
To take the statute from the mind 

And make of duty fate. 

United States ! the ages plead, — 
Present and Past in under-song, — 

Go put your creed into your deed. 
Nor speak with double tongue. 

For sea and land don't understand 

Nor skies without a frown 
See rights for which the one hand fights 

By the other cloven down. 

Be just at home ; then write your scroll 

Of honor o'er the sea, 
And bid the broad Atlantic roll 

A ferry of the free. 

And henceforth there shall be no chain. 

Save underneath the sea 
The wires shall murmur through the main 

Sweet songs of liberty. 

The conscious stars accord above. 

The waters wild below, 
And under, through the cable wove, 

Her fiery errands go. 



212 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

AMERICA FIRST ^ 

'ANONYMOUS 

This is the season when Young America cele- 
brates the glorious deeds of the forefathers, when 
they cut the leading-strings that bound them to the 
Old World, and stepped forth with the independence 
of manhood. 

It took Rome five hundred years, five centuries of 
war, intrigue and arrogance, to overspread Southern 
Europe. In a little more than one century America 
has grown to a magnitude in area and perhaps in popu- 
lation also, equal to that of Rome in its most magnifi- 
cent days. 

" Civis Romanus sum! " was the proudest boast that 
could fall from the lips of man at the beginning of the 
Christian era. Is there to-day an American who rates 
his citizenship in the Great Republic at a lower value 
than Roman freedom nineteen hundred years ago? 

The day for " spread-eagle " brag is long past, but 
there is no reason why we should hesitate to say what 
not we alone but all the people of the world believe, 
that it is the destiny of this country to become the 
greatest, the strongest, the wealthiest, the most self- 
supporting of all the nations of the earth. It is al- 
ready the greatest self-governing community the world 
has ever seen. 

How can we make it greater? By standing to- 
gether as Americans. We shall not magnify, but shall 
belittle ourselves, if we swagger before our neigh- 
bors — using bravado for the strong, and insolence in 

1 From " The Youth's Companion," 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 213 

our treatment of the weak. But we should take 
American views instead of party views, when ques- 
tions arise between this government and others. 

The motto " America against the world " would be 
a contemptible motto. Yet is it not better to adopt 
even such a motto than to take the side of the world 
against America, or to be indifferent when the in- 
terests of one's own country are assailed? 

The Fourth of July is a good time for us all to 
resolve that we will be Americans at heart. Not that 
we will build up our own country on the ruins of 
others, but that when there is a clashing of interests 
those of our native land shall have our hearty support. 



LIBERTY FOR ALL 

BY WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON 

They tell me. Liberty ! that in thy name 
I may not plead for all the human race ; 
That some are born to bondage and disgrace, 
Some to a heritage of woe and shame, 
And some to power supreme, and glorious fame: 
With my whole soul I spurn the doctrine base. 
And, as an equal brotherhood, embrace 
All people, and for all fair freedom claim ! 
Know this, O man ! whate'er thy earthly fate — 
God never made a tyrant nor a slave : 
Woe, then, to those who dare to desecrate 
His glorious image ! — for to all He gave 
Eternal rights, which none may violate ; 
And, by a mighty hand, the oppressed He yet shall 
save! 



214 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

HYMN 
(For the Fourth of July, 1863.) 

ANONYMOUS 

Lord, the people of the land 
In Thy presence humbly stand ; 
On this day, when Thou didst free 
Men of old from tyranny, 
We, their children, bow to Thee. 

Help us, Lord, our only trust ! 

We are helpless, we are dust ! 

All our homes are red with blood ; 
Long our grief we have withstood ; 
Every lintel, each door-post, 
Drips, at tidings from the host, 
With the blood of some one lost. 

Help us, Lord, our only trust ! 

We are helpless, we are dust ! 

Comfort, Lord, the grieving one 
Who bewails a stricken son ! 
Comfort, Lord, the weeping wife, 
In her long, long widowed life, 
Brooding o'er the fatal strife, 

Help us, Lord, our only trust ! 

We are helpless, we are dust ! 

On our Nation's day of birth, 
Bless Thv own long-favored earth ! 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 215 

Urge the soldier with Thy will ! 
Aid their leaders with Thy skill ! 
Let them hear Thy trumpet thrill ! 

Help us, Lord, our only trust ! 

We are helpless, we are dust ! 



Lord, we only fight for peace. 
Fight that freedom may increase. 
Give us back the peace of old. 
When the land with plenty rolled. 
And our banner awed the bold ! 

Help us, Lord, our only trust ! 

We are helpless, we are dust ! 

Lest we pray in thoughtless guilt, 
Shape the future as Thou wilt ! 
Purge our realm from hoary crime 
With Thy battles, dread, sublime, 
In Thy well-appointed time ! 

Help us. Lord, our only trust ! 

We are helpless, we are dust ! 

With one heart the Nation's cries 
From our choral lips arise : 
Thou didst point a noble way 
For our Fathers through the fray ; 
Lead their children thus to-day ! 

Help us, Lord, our only trust ! 

We are helpless, we are dust ! 

In His name, who bravely bore 
Cross and crown begemmed with gore, 



2i6 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

By His last immortal groan, 
Ere He mounted to His throne, 
Make our sacred cause Thy own ! 

Help us, Lord, our only trust ! 

We are helpless, we are dust ! 



THE DAWNING FUTURE 

BY WILLIAM PRESTON JOHNSON, PRESIDENT OF 
TULANE UNIVERSITY, LA. 

(Closing stanza of patriotic poem, " The Patriot South.") 

Thus, in the march of time, and long procession 

Of coming ages, year on year. 

We mark the great Republic's proud career. 

Like Philip's phalanx, manifold, 

With bucklers linked, one front against aggression, 

Till Freedom's perfect vision is unrolled, 

And man, with eye unsealed, its glories shall behold. 

LIBERTY 

The people never give up their liberties but under 
some delusion. 
Burke — Speech at a County Meeting at Bucks, 1784. 

Liberty's in every blow ! 
Let us do or die. 

Burns — Bannockburn. 

What is liberty without wisdom and without virtue ? 
It is the greatest of all possible evils ; for it is folly, 
.vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint. 

Burke — Reflections on the RevoJntion in France. 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 217 

The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to 
all the force of the crown. 

Earl of Chatham — Speech on the Excise Bill. 

'Tis liberty alone that gives the flower 
Of fleeting life its luster and perfume ; 
And we are weeds without it. 

CowPER — The Task. Bk. V. Line 446. 

The love of liberty with life is given, 
And life itself the inferior gift of heaven. 
Dryden — Palamon and Arcite. Bk. IL Line 291. 

This is true liberty when freeborn men, 
Having to advise the public, may speak free : 
Which he who can and will deserves high praise : 
Who neither can nor will may hold his peace. 
What can be juster in a state than this? 

Milton — Trans. Horace. Ep. i. 16, 40. 

Give me again my hollow tree 
A crust of bread, and liberty ! 
Pope — Imitations of Horace. Bk. IL Satire VI. 
Line 220. 

O Liberty ! Liberty ! how many crimes are com- 
mitted in thy name ! 

Madame Roland — Macaulay. Miraheau. 

FREEDOM 

Hereditary bondsmen ! Know ye not 
Who would be free themselves must strike the blow ? 
Pyron — Childe Harold. Canto II. St. 67. 



2i8 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Freedom has a thousand charms to show, 
That slaves howe'er contented, never know. 

CowPER — Table Talk. Line 260. 

He is the freeman, whom the truth makes free, 
And all are slaves besides. 

CowPER — The Task. Bk. V. Line 733. 

When Freedom from her mountain height 
Unfurled her standard to the air. 

She tore the azure robe of night. 
And set the stars of glory there. 

Drake — The American Flag. 

My angel — his name is Freedom, — 
Choose him to be your king ; 
He shall cut pathways east and west. 
And fend you with his wing. 

Emerson — Boston Hymn. 

Yes, to this thought I hold with firm persistence ; 
The last result of wisdom stamps it true ; 
He only earns his freedom and existence 
Who daily conquers them anew. 

Goethe — Faust. 

Know ye why the Cypress tree as Freedom's tree is 

known ? 
Know ye why the Lily fair as Freedom's flower is 

shown ? 
Hundred arms the Cypress has, yet never plunder 

seeks ; 
With ten well-developed tongues the Lily never 

speaks ! 

Omar Khayyam — Frederich Boden-f 
stedt. Translator. 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 219 

What is freedom ? Rightly understood, 
A universal license to be good. 

Hartley Coleridge. 



A RHAPSODY 

BY CASSIUS MARCELLUS CLAY 

I MAY be an enthusiast ; but I cannot but give ut- 
terance to the conceptions of my own mind. When 
I look upon the special developments of European 
civilization ; when I contemplate the growing freedom 
of the cities, and the middle class which has sprung 
up between the pretenders to divine rule on the one 
hand, and the abject serf on the other ; when I con- 
sider the Reformation, and the invention of the press, 
and see, on the southern shore of the continent, an 
humble individual, amidst untold difficulties and re- 
peated defeats, pursuing the mysterious suggestions 
which the mighty deep poured unceasingly upon his 
troubled spirit, till at last, with great and irrepressi- 
ble energy of soul, he discovered that there lay in the 
far western ocean a continent open for the infusion 
of those elementary principles of liberty which were 
dwarfed in European soil, — I conceive that the hand 
of destiny was there! 

When I see the immigration of the Pilgrims from 
the chalky shores of England, — in the night fleeing 
from their native home, — so dramatically and ably 
pictured by Mr. Webster in his celebrated oration, — 
when father, mother, brother, wife, sister, lover, were 
all lost by those melancholy wanderers — " stifling," 
in the language of one who is immortal in the con- 



220 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

ception, " the mighty hunger of the heart," and land- 
ing, amidst cold and poverty and death, upon the rude 
rocks of Plymouth, — I venture to think the will of 
Deity was there! 

When I have remembered the Revolution of '76, — 
the Seven Years' War — three millions of men in 
arms against the most powerful nation in history, and 
vindicating their independence, — I have thought that 
their sufferings and death were not in vain ! When 
I have seen the forsaken hearthstone, — looked upon 
the battlefield, upon the dying and the dead, — heard 
the agonizing cry, "Water, for the sake of God! 
water ; " seeing the dissolution of being — pale lips 
pressing in death the yet loved images of wife, sister, 
lover, — I have not deemed — I will not deem all 
these things in vain ! I cannot regard this great con- 
tinent, reaching from the Atlantic to the far Pacific, 
and from the St. John's to the Rio del Norte, as the 
destined home of a barbarian people of third-rate 
civilization. 

Like the Roman who looked back upon the glory of 
his ancestors, in woe, exclaiming, 

" Great Scipio's ghost complains that we are slow, 
And Pompey's shade walks unavenged among us," 

the great dead hover around me : — Lawrence, " Don't 
give up the ship." — Henry, " Give me liberty or give 
me death ! " — Adams, " Survive or perish, I am for 
the Declaration." — Allan, " In the name of the living 
God, I come I " 

Come then. Thou Eternal, who dwellest not in 
temples made with hands, but who, in the city's crowd 
or by the far forest stream, revealest Thyself to the 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 221 

earnest seeker after the true and right, inspire my 
heart ; give me undying courage to pursue the prompt- 
ings of my spirit ; and whether I shall be called in the 
shades of life to look upon as sweet and kind and 
lovely faces as now, or shut in by sorrow and night, 
horrid visions shall gloom upon me in my dying hour, 
O my country, mayest thou yet be free! 



COLUMBIA 

BY FREDERICK LAWRENCE KNOWLES 

Mated to the Millennium, — Time's last heir 
And proudest daughter, conquerless as he ; 

Girdled with lakes like jewels princely fair. 
With strong feet planted in the Mexic sea! 

Where Law is liberty, where Love is power, 

And the twain one, there Treason cannot dwell ; 

A fangless asp, it coiled one impotent hour, 

But at thy white glance backward writhed to hell. 

Leave dotard empires flames of drunken war, 
Be thine chaste hours of labor and increase, 

Vineyards and harvests yielding guiltless store. 
Toil's bloodless battles on the plains of peace ! 

Yet when slain Weakness, dying at thy door, 

Summoning thy right arm's vengeance, clasps thy 
feet, — 

Thy sword that drinks her murderer's blood is pure 
As laughing sickles in the saffron wheat. 



222 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Clearing a crimson path where Peace may tread 
More safely ; thou dost play thy patient part, 

Love's pledged ally, — yea, though thy blade be red ; 
Thrusting War's weapons thro' his own false heart. 

O goddess, arctic-crowned and tropic-shod 
And belted with great waters, hear our cry, — 

More honest never reached the ear of God,— 
We'll serve thee, laud thee, love thee, till we die! 



A RENAISSANCE OF PATRIOTISM ^ 

BY GEORGE J. MANSON 
A RENAISSANCE 

Within the past few years there has been what ex- 
President Harrison once happily termed " a renais- 
sance of patriotism." It started wdth the centennial 
anniversaries of 1776, which had the effect of carry- 
ing the memories of the people back to the period of 
the Nation's birth, and subsequently resulted in the 
formation of several societies which will be the means 
of fostering the patriotic spirit and love of country, 
and recall remembrances of our Revolutionary strug- 
gle. The organizers of these societies found that there 
was a growing lack of what may be called national pa- 
triotism — the patriotism that grows out of a lively 
recollection of the early making of the country through 
battle, toil, and hardship of the fathers. This luke- 
warm spirit was not charged to the flood of immigra- 
tion, or to the lapse of time, but was principally due 

^ Reprinted from " The Independent." 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 223 

to neglect on the part of the descendants of Revolu- 
tionary heroes to perform their duty of keeping be- 
fore the public mind the memory of the services of 
their ancestors, the times in which they lived and the 
principles for which they contended. 

THE SONS OF THE REVOLUTION 

One of the first of these societies to be started was 
the " vSons of the Revolution." This was organized 
February 22, 1876, reorganized December 4, 1883, and 
incorporated May 3, 1884. The aim of this society 
is to perpetuate the memory of the men who, in mili- 
tary, naval or civil service, by their acts or counsel, 
achieved American independence. The members pro- 
mote and assist in the proper celebration of the an- 
niversaries of Washington's Birthday, the battles of 
Lexington and Bunker Hill, the Fourth of July, the 
capitulation of Saratoga and Yorktown, and the 
formal evacuation of New York by the British army, 
December 3, 1783, as a relinquishment of territorial 
sovereignty, and other prominent events relating to or 
connected with the War of the Revolution. 

The roll-book of the members is something more 
than a mere list of names. Before each name is the 
year, showing when the member was admitted into the 
society, and there is also given in a paragraph his 
genealogical history so far as it relates to his ancestors 
who were in any way connected with the Revolutionary 
struggle. There is a general, or national society, di- 
vided into state societies which regulate their own 
affairs. Under the rules of the New York State so- 
ciety, ten or more members can organize within any 
county outside of the county of New York, such a 



224 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

body being called a local chapter. The total member- 
ship is now about six thousand. When membership 
is asked on the ground of an ancestor having been 
a " sailor " or " marine," it must be shown that such 
service was other than shore duty and regularly per- 
formed in the Continental navy, or the navy of one 
of the original thirteen states, or on an armed vessel 
other than a merchant ship. When the ancestor has 
been an " official " his service must have been suf- 
ficiently important in character to have rendered him 
specially liable to arrest and imprisonment, if captured 
by the enemy, as well as liable to conviction of treason 
against the Government of Great Britain. 

A few years ago the society stimulated interest in 
its work by offering two prizes to the cadets of the 
United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Md., — a 
gold medal and a silver medal — for the best original 
essays upon the subject, " The Navy of the Revolu- 
tion." A singular and patriotic feature of these es- 
says was that they were not to contain less than 1,776 
words. A gold medal is likewise annually awarded 
by the New York society to a student in the College 
of the City of New York, for the best essay on a 
patriotic subject, and gold, silver, and bronze medals 
to the scholars of the high schools throughout the State 
for like essays. Similar prizes are awarded by the 
societies in other states. 

Congress has also been urged, by the Sons of the 
Revolution as a body, to pass a bill which has already 
been introduced in that body, making an appropria- 
tion of a sum of money to erect a monument to John 
Paul Jones. It has also memorialized Congress to 
enact such a law as will secure the publication of all 
the archives of the United States Government relating 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 225 

to the War of the Revolution, in a manner similar to 
the publication of the records of the War of the Re- 
bellion. 

The seal of the society is an interesting study, sug- 
gesting as it does, in small compass, the spirit of 
patriotism the society desires to cultivate. The seal 
consists of the figure of a minuteman, in Continental 
uniform standing on a ladder leading to a belfry. In 
his right hand he holds a musket and an olive branch, 
while his left hand grasps a bell-rope. Above is seen 
the cracked Liberty bell, from which issues a ribbon 
bearing the motto of the society : Exegi monumentum 
aere perennius. Many members of this society did 
gallant service in the war with Spain. 



SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

The second important patriotic society is the " Sons 
of the American Revolution," a name very similar 
to that of the organization just mentioned. The first 
branch of this society was formed in California in 
1876 by a body of descendants of officers, soldiers, 
and seamen of the Revolution gathered in San Fran- 
cisco for the purpose of celebrating the one hundredth 
anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 
Similar societies were therefore organized in other 
states and, on April 30, 1889, these societies with two 
or three exceptions celebrated the centennial inaugu- 
ration of Washington as first President of the United 
States. This meeting was held in Fraunce's Tavern, 
in New York City, in the identical long room (now 
marked with a commemorative tablet) in which 
Washington bade farewell to his officers, December 3, 



226 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

1783. The national organization was formed on the 
occasion of this meeting. 

This society exists in about thirty states, and num- 
bers about five thousand members. A singular and in- 
teresting feature in connection with this and kindred 
organizations is that their existence has led to and 
greatly stimulated genealogical research, a species of 
investigation to which Americans, as a rule, have 
given but little attention. Persons who have become 
interested in these societies, it has been found, have 
rescued unrecorded facts from the aged members of 
their families who were destined soon to pass away, 
information which could have been obtained in no 
other way and which would have been lost forever in 
a few years. 

The " Sons of the American Revolution " prides it- 
self on being a practical and not merely a sentimental 
and ornamental organization. It has been particularly 
active in saving throughout the country valuable his- 
torical landmarks, such as the headquarters of Jona- 
than Trumbull, in Connecticut, which has been ob- 
tained and is now used for a museum. It is marking 
historical spots and, directly and indirectly, securing 
the erection of memorials of the Revolutionary heroes, 
such as the Bennington Monument, near that famous 
battle-field, the statue of Gen. John Stark, in New 
Hampshire, and a monument to be erected in Balti- 
more to Maryland's heroes of the Revolution. It has 
obtained from Congress a law providing for the col- 
lection and indexing of the records of service of the 
Revolution. It has stimulated the general observance 
of national patriotic holidays, and was influential in 
setting apart June 14th as " Flag Day " in commemora- 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 227 

tion of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the 
national standard. 

THE SOCIETY OF COLONIAL WARS 

" The Society of Colonial Wars," originated in New 
York, and was instituted August 18, 1892, and incor- 
porated October 18, 1892. In May, 1893, the New 
York society with the societies in the states of Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the 
District of Columbia organized the general society, 
these states, having been previously chartered by the 
society in the State of New York. The objects of the 
organizations are similar to those of the previously 
named societies, from which they differ only in minor 
details. The present membership is approximately 
3,000. On June 14th of this year (1898) this society 
joined with the Sons of the Revolution in appropriate 
ceremonies attending the unveiling of commemora- 
tive tablets at Fort Ticonderoga, intended to perpet- 
uate the memories of the capture of the fort by 
Colonel Ethan Allen and his gallant band, the Colonial 
battles fought in the vicinity of Fort Ticonderoga, etc. 

THE MILITARY ORDER OF FOREIGN WARS 

" The Military Order of Foreign Wars " is, as its 
name implies, a military organization with patriotic 
objects, having for its scope the period of American 
history since national independence. The principal 
feature of the order is the perpetuating of the names, 
as well as the services, of commissioned officers who 
served in either the War of the Revolution, the War 
with Tripoli, the War of 181 2, the Mexican War, or 



228 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

the War with Spain. Veteran Companionship, is con- 
ferred upon such officers, and Hereditary Companion- 
ship upon their direct Hneal descendants in the male 
line. The present membership is 1,400, which is 
rapidly growing. Other societies that merit more ex- 
tended notice but which can here only be named are 
the " Order of Cincinnati," the " Society of the War 
of 1812," the ''Aztec Club," the " Loyal Legion," the 
" Grand Army of the Republic," the " Flag Associa- 
tion," " Colonial Order of the Acorn," " Order of 
Washington," the " Pilgrim Society," and some others. 

THE DAUGHTERS OF THE REVOLUTION 

It is quite natural that women, whose patriotic serv- 
ices during the late Civil War have often been the sub- 
ject of grateful eulogy, should become interested in 
this new movement. There are several patriotic so- 
cieties, composed exclusively of women, the objects 
of which are practically the same as the organizations 
which have just been mentioned. The society known 
as the " Daughters of the Revolution " was organized 
by Mrs. Flora Adams Darling, September 9, 1891. 
In October, 1890, was organized the more important 
society known as the " Daughters of the American 
Revolution," which now has a membership of about 
3,500. This society has state chapters existing in most 
of the states. To become a member of this society a 
woman must be not less than eighteen years of age, 
and be the descendant of an ancestor who loyally 
rendered material aid as a soldier, sailor or civil of- 
ficer to the cause of independence. The Daughters 
of the American Revolution have presented to the City 
of Paris an equestrian statue of Lafayette designed 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 229 

and executed by Daniel C. French. It was intended 
to be a return of the compHment to the American 
people conveyed by the French Government when it 
presented to the United States the statue of Washing- 
ton which is now at the National Capital. The un- 
veiling took place with imposing ceremonies on July 
3rd. 

THE COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA 

The " Colonial Dames of America," an organiza- 
tion incorporated in 1893, requires of a member that 
she shall be descended in her own right from some an- 
cestor of worthy life who came to reside in the 
American colony prior to 1750. This ancestor, or 
some one of his descendants, shall be a lineal ascend- 
ant of the applicant, and shall have rendered efficient 
service to his country during the colonial period 
either in the founding of the commonwealth, or of 
an institution which has survived and developed into 
importance, or who shall have held an important posi- 
tion in the Colonial Government and by distinguished 
services shall have contributed to the founding of the 
Nation. Services rendered after 1783 are not recog- 
nized. 

UNITED STATES DAUGHTERS, I776-1812 

Still another woman's patriotic organization is 
known as the " United States Daughters, 1776-1812." 
This society was founded by Mrs. Flora Adams Dar- 
ling, and incorporated in 1892. Ladies to be eligible 
must be lineal descendants of an ancestor who assisted 
in the wars of 1776-1812, either as a military or naval 
officer, soldier, sailor, or in any way gave aid to the 
cause, tho' the society reserves to itself the privilege 



230 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

of rejecting any nomination that may not be accept- 
able to it. 

Another patriotic woman's organization tho' not of 
recent date, which has for years rendered important 
service, is the " Mount Vernon Ladies' Association," 
of Washington, D. C. This association has under its 
care and direction the Washington estate at Mount 
Vernon, Va. In 1895 a volume entitled " Ancestry " 
was published by Bailey, Banks and Biddle (Philadel- 
phia) in connection with their Department of Her- 
aldry that contained a complete list of the various pa- 
triotic societies, then forty-seven in number. Since 
the publication of this volume many new societies 
have sprung up. 



CENTENNIAL POEMS 

CENTENNIAL HYMN ^ 

by john greenleaf whittier 

Sung at the Opening of the World's Fair at 
Philadelphia, in 1876. 



/ 



V 



Our fathers' God, from out whose hand 
The centuries fall like grains of sand. 
We meet to-day, united, free, 
And loyal to our land and Thee, 
To thank Thee for the era done, 
And trust Thee for the opening one. 

By permission of the publishers, Houghton, Mifflin Co, 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY , 231 

Here, where of old, by Thy design, 
The fathers spake that word of Thine 
Whose echo is the glad refrain 
Of rended bolt and falling chain, — 
To grace our festal time, from all 
The zones of earth, our guests we call. 

Be with us while the New World greets 
The Old World, thronging all our streets, 
Unveiling all the triumphs won 
By art or toil, beneath the sun. 
And unto common good ordain 
This rivalship of hand and brain. 

Thou, who hast here, in Concord, furled 
The war-flags of a gathered world, — 
Beneath our Western skies fulfill 
The Orient's mission of good will, 
And, freighted with Love's Golden Fleece, 
Send back the Argonauts of Peace. 

For Art and Labor, met in truce, 
For Beauty made the bride of Use, 
We thank Thee ; while, withal, we crave 
The austere virtues, strong to save, — 
The Honor, proof to place or gold, 
The Manhood, never bought nor sold. 

Oh, make Thou us, through centuries long, 
In Peace secure, in justice strong; 
Around our gift of Freedom draw 
The safeguards of Thy righteous law ; 
And, cast in some diviner mold, 
Let the new cycle shame the old. 



232 INDEPENDENCE DAY, 

WELCOME TO THE NATION ^ 
(Centennial Hymn sung on Independence Day, 1876.) 

BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 

Bright on the banners of lily and rose, 
Lo, the last sun of our country sets ! 

Wreathe the bright cannon that scowled on our foes, 
All but her friendships the Nation forgets, 
All but her friends, and their welcome, forgets. 

These are around her: but where are her foes? 
Lo, while the sun of her century sets. 

Peace, with her garlands of lily and rose ! 

Welcome ! a shout like the war-trumpet's swell 

Wakes the wild echoes that slumber around ! 
Welcome ! it quivers from Liberty's bell ; 

Welcome ! the walls of her temple resound ! 

Hark ! the gray walls of her temple resound ! 
Fade the far voices o'er hillside and dell ; 

Welcome ! still whisper the echoes around ! 
Welcome ! still trembles on Liberty's bell ! 

Thrones of the continents ! isles of the sea ! 

Yours are the garlands of peace we entwine; 
Welcome once more to the land of the free. 

Shadowed alike by the palm and the pine ; 

Softly they murmur, the palm and the pine, 
" Hushed is our strife, in the land of the free ; " 

Over your children their branches entwine, 
Thrones of the continents ! isles of the sea ! 

1 By permission of the publishers, Houghton, MifHin Co. 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 233 

LIBERTY'S LATEST DAUGHTER 

BY BAYARD TAYLOR 

(Third Canto.) 

Foreseen in the vision of sages, 

Foretold when martyrs bled, 
She was born of the longing of ages. 

By the truth of the noble dead, 

And the faith of the living, fed ! 
No blood in her lightest veins 
Frets at remembered chains. 
Nor shame of bondage has bowed her head 

In her form and features still, 

The unblenching Puritan will, 
Cavalier honor, Huguenot grace, 

The Quaker truth and sweetness. 
And the strength of the danger-girdled race 

Of Holland, blend in a proud completeness. 
From the homes of all, where her being began, 
She took what she gave to man : 
Justice that knew no station. 

Belief as soul decreed. 
Free air for aspiration. 

Free force for independent deed. 
She takes, but to give again. 
As the sea returns the rivers in rain ; 
And gathered the chosen of her seed 
From the hunted of every crown and creed. 
Her Germany dwells by a gentler Rhine ; 
Her Ireland sees the old sunburst shine ; 
Her France pursues some dream divine ; 



234 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Her Norway keeps his mountain-pine ; 
Her Italy waits by the western brine ; 
And, broad-based under all 

Is planted England's oaken-hearted mood, 

As rich in fortitude 
As e'er went world-ward from the island wall. 

Fused in her candid light, 

To one strong race all races here united ; 
Tongues melt in hers ; herditary f oemen 

Forget their sword and slogan, kith and clan ; 
'Twas glory, once, to be a Roman ; 

She makes it glory, now, to be a man. 



" SCUM O' THE EARTH " ^ 

BY ROBERT HAVEN SCHAUFFLER 



At the gate of the West I stand. 
On the isle where the nations throng. 
We call them " scum o' the earth " ; 

Stay, are we doing you wrong, 

Young fellow from Socrates' land ? — 

You, like a Hermes so lissome and strong 

Fresh from the master Praxiteles' hand ? 

So you're of Spartan birth ? 

Descended, perhaps, from one of the band — 

1 By permission of the publishers, Houghton, MifHin Co. 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 235 

Deathless in story and song — 

Who combed their long hair at Thermopylae's 

pass? . . . 
Ah, I forget the straits, alas ! 
More tragic than theirs, more compassion- worth, 
That have doomed you to march in our " immigrant 

class " 
Where you're nothing but " scum o' the earth." 



II 



You Pole with the child on your knee, 

What dower bring you to the land of the free? 

Hark ! does she croon 

That sad little tune 

That Chopin once found on his Polish lea 

And mounted in gold for you and for me ? 

Now a ragged young fiddler answers 

In wild Czech melody 

That Dvorak took whole from the dancers. 

And the heavy faces bloom 

In the wonderful Slavik way ; 

The little, dull eyes, the brows a-gloom, 

Suddenly dawn like the day. 

While, watching these folk and their mystery, 

I forget that they're nothing worth ; 

That Bohemians, Slovaks, Croatians, 

And men of all Slavik nations 

Are " polacks " — and " scum o' the earth." 



23,6 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

III 

Genoese boy of the level brow, 

Lad of the lustrous, dreamy eyes 

Astare at Manhattan's pinnacles now 

In the first, sweet shock of a hushed surprise ; 

Within your far-rapt seer's eyes 

I catch the glow of the wild surmise 

That played on the Santa Maria's prow 

In that still gray dawn, 

Four centuries gone. 

When a world from the wave began to rise. 

Oh, it's hard to foretell what high emprise 

Is the goal that gleams 

When Italy's dreams 

Spread wing and sweep into the skies. 

Caesar dreamed him a world ruled well ; 

Dante dreamed Heaven out of Hell ; 

Angelo brought us there to dwell ; 

And you, are you of a different birth ? — 

You're only a " dago," — and " scum o' the earth " ! 

IV 

Stay, are we doing you wrong 

Calling you " scum o' the earth," 

Man of the sorrow-bowed head, 

Of the features tender yet strong, — 

Man of the eyes full of wisdom and mystery 

Mingled with patience and dread? 

Have I not known you in history, 

Sorrow -bowed head? 

Were you the poet-king, worth 

Treasures of Ophir unpriced ? 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 2^^ 

Were you the prophet, perchance, whose art 

Foretold how the rabble would mock 

That shepherd of spirits, erelong, 

Who should carry the lambs on his heart 

And tenderly feed his flock? 

Man — lift that sorrow-bowed head. 

Lo! 'tis the face of the Christ! 

The vision dies at its birth. 
You're merely a butt for our mirth. 
You're a " sheeny " — and therefore despised 
And rejected as " scum o' the earth." 



Countrymen, bend and invoke 

Mercy for us blasphemers, 

For that we spat on these marvelous folk. 

Nations of darers and dreamers, 

Scions of singers and seers. 

Our peers, and more than our peers. 

" Rabble and refuse," we name them 

And " scum o' the earth," to shame them. 

Mercy for us of the few, young years. 

Of the culture so callow and crude, 

Of the hands so grasping and rude, 

The lips so ready for sneers 

At the sons of our ancient more-than-peers. 

Mercy for us who dare despise 

Men in whose loins our Homer lies ; 

Mothers of men who shall bring to us 

The glory of Titian, the grandeur of Huss ; 

Children in whose frail arms shall rest 

Prophets and singers and saints of the West. 



238 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Newcomers all from the eastern seas, 

Help us incarnate dreams like these. 

Forget, and forgive, that we did you wrong. 

Help us to father a nation, strong 

In the comradeship of an equal birth, 

In the wealth of the richest bloods of earth. 



LIBERTY AND UNION ONE AND 
INSEPARABLE 

BY DANIEL WEBSTER 

I PROFESS, sir, in my career hitherto, to have kept 
steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the whole 
country, and the preservation of our Federal Union. 
It is to that Union that we owe our safety at home, and 
our consideration and dignity abroad. It is to that 
Union that we are chiefly indebted for whatever makes 
us most proud of our country. That Union we 
reached only by the discipline of our virtues, in the 
severe school of adversity. It had its origin in the 
necessities of disordered finance, prostrate commerce, 
and ruined credit. Under its benign influences these 
great interests immediately awoke, as from the dead, 
and sprang forth with newness of life. Every year 
of its duration has teemed with fresh proofs of its 
utility and its blessings ; and, although our territory has 
stretched out wider and wider, and our population 
spread farther and farther, they have not outrun its 
protection or its benefits. It has been to us all a 
copious fountain of national, social, and personal hap- 
piness. I have not allowed myself, sir, to look beyond 
the Union, to see what might lie hidden in the dark 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 239 

recess behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances 
of preserving liberty, when the bonds that unite us 
together shall be broken asvinder. I have not accus- 
tomed myself to hang over the precipice of disunion, to 
see whether, with my short sight, I can fathom the 
depth of the abyss below ; nor could I regard him as a 
safe counselor in the affairs of this government, whose 
thought should be mainly bent on considering, not how 
the Union may be best preserved, but how tolerable 
might be the condition of the people when it should be 
broken up and destroyed. 

While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, grati- 
fying prospects spread out before us, for us and our 
children. Beyond that I seek not to penetrate the 
veil. God grant that in my day, at least, that curtain 
may not rise ! God grant that on my vision never 
may be opened what lies behind ! When my eyes 
shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun 
in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken 
and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union ; on 
States dissevered, discordant, belligerent ; on a land 
rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fra- 
ternal blood ! 

Let their last feeble and lingering glance rather be- 
hold the gorgeous ensign of the republic, now known 
and honored throughout the earth, still full high ad- 
vanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their 
original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a 
single star obscured ; bearing for its motto no such 
miserable interrogatory as. What is all this zvorth? nor 
those other words of delusion and folly, — Liberty first 
and Union afterivards ; but everywhere, spread all over 
in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample 
folds as they float over the sea and over the land, and 



240 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sen- 
timent, dear to every true American heart, — Liberty 
and Union, nozv and forever, one and inseparable! 



ADDRESS TO LIBERTY 

BY WILLIAM COWPER 

Oh, could I worship aught beneath the skies 
That earth hath seen, or fancy could devise, 
Thine altar, sacred Liberty, should stand. 
Built by no mercenary, vulgar hand, 
With fragrant turf, and flowers as wild and fair 
As ever dressed a bank, or scented summer air. 

Duly, as ever on the mountain's height 

The peep of morning shed a dawning light ; 

Again, when evening in her sober vest 

Drew the gray curtain of the fading west ; 

My soul should yield thee willing thanks and praise 

For the chief blessings of my fairest days : 

But that were sacrilege : praise is not thine. 

But His, who gave thee, and preserves thee mine ; 

Else I would say, — and, as I spake, bid fly 

A captive bird into the boundless sky, — 

This rising realm adores thee : thou art come 

From Sparta hither, and art here at home ; 

We feel thy force still active ; at this hour 

Enjoys immunity from priestly power ; 

While conscience, happier than in ancient years, 

Owns no superior but the God she fears. 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 241 

Propitious Spirit ! yet expunge a wrong 

Thy rights have suffered, and our land, too long; 

Teach mercy to ten thousand hearts, that share 

The fears and hopes of a commercial care; 

Prisons expect the wicked, and were built 

To bind the lawless, and to punish guilt ; 

But shipwreck, earthquake, battle, fire, and flood 

Are mighty mischiefs, not to be withstood : 

And honest merit stands on slippery ground 

Where covert guile and artifice abound. 

Let just restraint, for public peace designed. 

Chain up the wolves and tigers of mankind, — 

The foe of virtue has no claim to thee, — 

But let insolvent innocence go free. 



THE TORCH OF LIBERTY 

BY THOMAS MOORE 

I SAW it all in Fancy's glass — 

Herself, the fair, the wild magician, 
Who bade this splendid day-dream pass, 

And named each gilded apparition. 
'Twas like a torch-race, — such as they 

Of Greece performed, in ages gone, 
When the fleet youths, in long array. 

Passed the bright torch triumphant on. 

I saw the expectant nations stand 
To catch the coming flame in turn ; 

I saw, from ready hand to hand, 
The clear, though struggling, glory bum. 



242 INDEPENDENCE DAY, 

And oh, their joy, as it came near, 
'Twas, in itself, a joy to see ; 

While Fancy whispered in my ear, 
" That torch they pass is Liberty ! " 

And each, as she received the flame, 

Lighted her altar with its ray ; 
Then, smiling, to the next who came, 

Speeded it on its sparkling way. 
From Albion first, whose ancient shrine 

Was furnished with the flame already, 
Columbia caught the boon divine, 

And lit a flame, like Albion's, steady. 

Shine, shine forever, glorious flame, 

Divinest gift of gods to men ! 
From Greece thy earliest splendor came. 

To Greece thy ray returns again. 
Take, Freedom, take thy radiant round; 

When dimmed, revive; when lost, return 
Till not a shrine through earth be found 

On which thy glories shall not burn ! 



HOROLOGE OF LIBERTY 

ANONYMOUS 

The world heard : the battle of Lexington — one ; 
the Declaration of Independence — two ; the surrender 
of Burgoyne — three ; the siege of Yorktown — four ; 
the treaty of Paris — five ; the inauguration of Wash- 
ington — six ; and then it was the sunrise of a new 
day, of which we have seen yet only the glorious fore- 
noon. 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 243 

THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 

BY GEORGE BANCROFT 

In the fullness of time, a Republic rose up in the 
wilderness of America. Thousands of years had 
passed away before this child of the ages could be born. 
From whatever there was of good in the systems of 
former centuries she drew her nourishment ; the 
wrecks of the past were her warnings. With the 
deepest sentiment of faith fixed in her inmost nature, 
she disenthralled religion from bondage to temporal 
power, that her worship might be worship only in 
spirit and in truth. 

The wisdom which had passed from India through 
Greece, with what Greece had added of her own ; the 
jurisprudence of Rome ; the mediaeval municipalities ; 
the Teutonic method of representation, the political ex- 
perience of England, the benignant wisdom of the ex- 
positors of the law of nature and of nations in France 
and Holland, all shed on her their selectest influence. 
She washed the gold of political wisdom from the 
sands wherever it was found; she cleft it from the 
rocks ; she gleaned it among ruins. Out of all the dis- 
coveries of statesmen and sages, out of all the experi- 
ence of past human life, she compiled a perennial politi- 
cal philosophy, the primordial principles of national 
ethics. 

The wise men of Europe sought the best government 
in a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy ; 
and America went behind these names to extract from 
them the vital elements of social forms, and blend them 
harmoniously in the free Commonwealth, which comes 



244 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

nearest to the illustration of the natural equality of 
all men. She entrusted the guardianship of established 
rights to law ; the movements of reform to the spirit 
of the people, and drew her force from the happy 
reconciliation of both. 



A NEW NATIONAL HYMN 

BY FRANCIS MARION CRAWFORD 

Hail, Freedom ! thy bright crest 
And gleaming shield, thrice blest. 

Mirror the glories of a world thine own. 
Hail, heaven-born Peace ! our sight, 
Led by thy gentle light. 

Shows us the paths with deathless flowers strewn. 
Peace, daughter of a strife sublime, 
Abide with us till strife be lost in endless time. 

Her one hand seals with gold 
The portals of night's fold, 

Her other the broad gates of dawn unbars ; 
O'er silent wastes of snows, 
Crowning her lofty brows, 

Gleams high her diadem of northern stars ; 
While, clothed in garlands of warm flowers. 
Round Freedom's feet the South her wealth of beauty 
showers. 

Sweet is the toil of peace, 
Sweet is the year's increase, 

To loyal men who live by Freedom's laws ; 



SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY 245 

And in war's fierce alarms 
God gives stout hearts and arms 

To freemen sworn to save a rightful cause. 
Fear none, trust God, maintain the right, 
And triumph in unbroken Union's might. 

Welded in war's fierce flame. 
Forged on the hearth of fame, 

The sacred Constitution was ordained ; 
Tried in the fire of time, 
Tempered in woes sublime. 

An age was passed and left it yet unstained. 
God grant its glories still may shine, 
While ages fade, forgotten, in time's slow decline ! 

Honor the few who shared 
Freedom's first fight, and dared 

To face war's desperate tide at the full flood ; 
Who fell on hard-won ground, 
And into Freedom's wound 

Poured the sweet balsam of their brave hearts' blood. 
They fell ; but o'er that glorious grave 
Floats free the banner of the cause they died to save. 

In radiance heavenly fair, 
Floats on the peaceful air 

That flag that never stooped from Victory's pride ; 
Those stars that softly gleam. 
Those stripes that o'er us stream. 

In war's grand agony were sanctified ; 
A holy standard, pure and free. 
To light the home of peace, or blaze in victory. 



246 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Father, whose mighty power 
Shields us through Hfe's short hour, 

To Thee we pray : Bless us and keep us free ; 
All that is past forgive ; 
Teach us, henceforth, to live 

That, through our country, we may honor Thee ; 
And, when this mortal life shall cease, 
Take Thou, at last, our souls to Thine eternal peace. 



VII 
FICTION 



JIM'S AUNT 

BY FRANCES BENT DILLINGHAM 

" I WISH you could take him in," the minister said, 
almost entreatingly. " He isn't a bad boy, you know ; 
his family is quite respectable ; but when his aunt said 
she couldn't afford to take him into the country with 
her children, it seemed too bad for him to stay in the 
city." 

" Oh, yes, of course," Miss Lucinda assented hastily. 
" If only he wasn't a boy ! " 

The minister sighed. " I want you to do what you 
think best." 

It was Miss Lucinda's turn to sigh now — a long- 
drawn breath of surrender. " Well, I'll take him," 
she said. 

The minister rose to go. " It's very kind of you, 
Miss Tarbox ; be sure I appreciate your self-sacrifice ; " 
and then he added, in a hesitating sort of way, " You 
are always full of good works." 

The color flamed up in Miss Lucinda's face. " Oh ! " 
she exclaimed, lifting her proud head still higher, " I 
don't do anything ! " and the minister felt the usual 
sense of defeat he experienced in Miss Tarbox's 
presence. 

He was quite dejected as he went down the garden 
walk. " So excellent a woman," he murmured to him- 
self, and he mournfully contrasted her uncompromis- 
ing manner with the flattering air of other single ladies 

249 



250 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

of his parish as he glanced back furtively toward her 
parlor window. 

But Miss Tarbox would have considered it unpar- 
donable coquetry to peep after the minister, since he 
was an unmarried man, and she an eligible if not youth- 
ful spinster, so she went at once into the kitchen to 
prepare her supper. But the color did not at once fade 
from her cheeks as she moved about in her rapid, 
methodical manner, and she thought not so much of 
the boy who was to come, as of the man who had just 
gone. If the minister felt overcome in Miss Lucinda's 
presence, she, too, had a similar feeling after he had 
left her with some unspoken word on his lips. 

" It seems as though he was going to say something 
sometimes, but I kill it out of him. I wonder what is 
the matter with me, anyway ? " Miss Lucinda had ac- 
quired a habit of talking to herself, and now nodded 
gravely to her reflection in the little mirror over the 
kitchen shelf. " I'm not bad-looking and I mean to 
be pleasant, but, somehow most folks seem kind of 
afraid of me. I s'pose I have an up-and-coming way 
with me that scares most of them. I don't seem to be 
the sort they take to ; though I must say it's forlorn 
to be that way," and the image in the mirror sighed 
audibly. 

When Miss Lucinda had seated herself at her lonely 
tea-table, her thoughts took another channel. " What 
in the world am I to do with a boy? He'll upset 
things on the table-cloth, and let flies in the house and 
rub his fingers on the window-pane, and holler. Well, 
there's one thing about it, he's got to mind every word 
I say to him ! " But here Miss Lucinda drew herself 
up with a jerk. " There you go, Lucinda, complaining 
of your loneliness, and then finding fault when some- 



FICTION : JIM'S AUNT 251 

one comes to see you; thinking you're too fond of 
running things, and then saying you're going to make 
this boy do just as you want him to." 

It was only a few days later when the boy came, in 
company with the minister. He was not so large a 
boy as Miss Lucinda had expected from his age, and 
he was rather thin and pale. 

" I'll give him enough to eat, that's one thing," she 
told the minister. " And I've been thinking there's 
one comfort in a boy: he doesn't talk so much as a 
girl — that is, he isn't likely to." 

" No, he isn't likely to," the minister assented, a little 
doubtfully. 

After the minister had gone, Miss Lucinda began to 
wonder what she should do with the boy the rest of the 
morning. She found him in the kitchen, his short legs 
stretched to their utmost, trying to capture two flies 
buzzing on the window-pane. He paused in his exer- 
tions, and turned on her with a beaming smile. 

" Hullo ! Is dinner ready ? " he asked. 

Miss Lucinda drew herself up. " We don't have 
dinner till twelve o'clock," she said frigidly. 

" Oh, that's all right ; you needn't hurry," the boy 
said pleasantly. " I'm kinder grub-struck, but I guess 
I kin wait." 

Miss Lucinda stared at him in rebuke. " Perhaps 
you'd better go out and play," she suggested, " while 
I get dinner ; " and off he went. 

When the dinner-table was laid, Miss Lucinda rang 
her seldom-used bell out of the back door, and the boy 
came in promptly, with quite a color in his cheeks. 

" My ! " he exclaimed, staring at the neat, plentiful 
table, " ain't this a feed ! " 

" You'd better go and wash your hands," Miss 



252 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Lucinda suggested, and the boy went cheerily to the 
sink, scrubbing himself vigorously and then wiping his 
hands on the spick-and-span roller. Miss Lucinda 
groaned at the great black marks on the towel, and 
went out into the kitchen to turn it about so that she 
might not have to look at them through the dining-room 
doorway. 

" Mercy on us ! " she cried in distress as she came 
out into the kitchen, " you've left the door open. The 
house'Il be full of flies ! " 

" Now, don't you trouble," the boy said soothingly, 
" I'll catch every single fly that's got in. I'm a great 
flycatcher, I am. I'm used to flies." 

At the table, conversation did not at all flourish. 
Miss Lucinda had heard of a boy's appetite, but she 
had never dreamed of such awful capacity as this 
young person displayed. After he had taken the first 
keen edge from his hunger he laid down his knife and 
fork and looked at her inquiringly. 

" Should you mind if I was to call you aunt?" he 
asked smilingly. " You know I useter live with my 
aunt, and I'm kinder useter sayin' it." 

" I think it would be better if you called me Miss 
Tarbox," Miss Lucinda said, surprised, but not thrown 
off her guard. 

" That's rather long," the boy said meditatively ; 
" but I guess if I say it often enough I kin git it Miss 
Tarbox, Misstarbox, Misstubox, Misstibox, Miss — " 

" Don't say that over again, for goodness' sake," 
Miss Lucinda said irritably. " What is your name ? " 

" Well, the whole of it is James Wilson, but I guess 
you'd better call me Jim. I'm useter that." 

"What did you do this morning?" Miss Tarbox 



FICTION: JIM'S AUNT 253 

felt called upon to sustain and direct further conver- 
sation. 

" I went over to see the boy 'cross the street and 
we're goin' to play Indian this afternoon. Did you 
ever play Indian ? " 

Miss Tarbox shook her head. 

" You stick feathers all 'round your hat, and you 
make a fire and roast potatoes, and yell and eat the 
potatoes. That boy is a mighty nice feller. I told 
him I was stoppin' with you and goin' to have a dandy 
time. I guess he don't know you very well. I told 
him I thought you was kinder hard to git acquainted 
with. He said we'd git our feathers out o' his hen- 
yard, and I thought p'r'aps I might bring the potatoes. 
Do you think you could let me have two potatoes? I 
won't eat quite so much next time." 

Miss Lucinda drew a long breath. " Yes," she said, 
" I'll let you have the potatoes." 

" Now that's real nice. I told him I thought you'd 
be willin'." 

As soon as dinner was over Miss Lucinda brought 
the two potatoes from the cellar, but the boy did not 
go at once ; he sat on a chair in the kitchen, and watched 
her brisk movements as she cleared the table and made 
ready to wash the dishes. 

"Say, you're awful smart, ain't you?" he asked 
after a moment of observation, and Miss Tarbox, 
somewhat overwhelmed did not reply. 

He placed his elbow on his round knee and his 
chin on his small hand and stared a few moments in 
silence. 

" It looks awful kinder nice the way you hold up 
your head. Now, my aunt, she kinder slumps along. 



254 INDEPENDENCE DAY, 

She's a real nice woman, you know, but she don't look's 
though she had much gumption." 

Another silence. 

" Say, what kin I do ? " he asked next. 

" Mercy on us ! " ejaculated Miss Lucinda, " don't 
ask me. I thought you were going to roast potatoes." 

" I thought p'r'aps you might be kinder lonesome all 
alone, and I'd jest as soon help you wash up, I'm 
useter it. I kin make beds and sweep and wash dishes 
and do lots o' things. Try me and see." 

" Thank you, I can get along very well ; you needn't 
help," Miss Lucinda said in grim accents of dismissal 
but the boy did not move. 

" I s'pose you're pretty busy," he ventured presently. 

" Well, yes, rather," Miss Lucinda answered shortly. 

" Do you usually have a real good time Fourth o' 
July ? " he went on. 

Miss Lucinda gasped. " Well, no. I can't say I 
do," she answered in mournful truthfulness. 

" Now that's funny," the boy said, in a surprised 
tone. " Seem's though the country'd be an awful nice 
place to have a good time in. Fourth o' July. Mebbe 
it's 'cause you never had nobody to cel'brate with ; but 
you will this year. You'll have a real nice time, too; 
I always enjoy Fourth o' July." 

Miss Lucinda gave a feeble sigh. " What do you 
usually do Fourth o' July? " she asked, with the desire 
to learn her coming fate. 

" Well, last year I had one bunch o' firecrackers 
that got fired off the very first thing. I thought mebbe 
this year I'd earn 'nough money to buy two bunches ; 
d'you think I could ? " 

" Well, really, I don't know," Miss Lucinda said. 

" And last year I went to see the percession, and the 



FICTION : JIM'S AUNT 255 

crowd jammed me, and I didn't see nothin' ; but this 
year they're goin' to have a percession out here, and 
that feller asked me to be in it. D'you suppose I 
could?" 

" I don't know," Miss Lucinda answered again. 

" They're goin' to have reg'lar uniforms, red, white, 
and blue " — evidently the boy took this as half consent 
— " and it's goin' to be jest great. I s'pose it'd be a 
good deal o' trouble to make me a uniform, seein's 
you're so busy ? " 

"A soldier suit? Dear me, yes, I should say so! " 
There was no doubt now in Miss Lucinda's tones. 

The boy drew a deep breath as he rose to go. " All 
right," he said cheerfully, " I'll tell the fellers ; p'r'aps 
they'll let me march, jest the same." 

When supper-time came and Miss Lucinda rang her 
bell again out the door, she saw the boy coming along 
the path from the barn, helping Joshua, the man-of-all- 
work, bring in the brimming pail of milk, 

" Supper is ready," Miss Lucinda said, and this time 
the boy washed his hands without special order. 

" Say," he cried, waving the roller, " Josh's goin' to 
teach me how to milk, and you won't have to hire him 
any more. I kin do everything's well as not, can't I, 
Josh ? " But Joshua had, fortunately, gone and did not 
hear this threat to usurp his position. 

" Well, you do have orful good meals," he said, sit- 
ting down opposite Miss Lucinda's handsome, severe 
figure. " I'm orful hungry, but I did have the dandiest 
time to-day you ever heard of. The potatoes didn't 
roast very well, but the fire burned like fun. My 
Jiminy — " 

*' James ! " called Miss Lucinda in an awful voice. 

James opened his innocent eyes and looked at her. 



256 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

then fell to eating with renewed vigor, and it was some 
time before he mustered courage to finish his recital. 

But when he came out into the kitchen and watched 
her moving back and forth in the dusky light, Miss 
Lucinda somehow felt herself moved to open conver- 
sation. 

" You didn't eat so very much for supper, James." 

" No, marm," James answered promptly. " Don't 
you remember them potatoes? I was a-payin' for 
em. 

" Mercy on us ! " cried Miss Lucinda, and she went 
to the dining-room and brought from the table the cur- 
rant pie, of which the boy, to Miss Lucinda's amaze- 
ment, had eaten only two pieces. 

He ate the third generous slice she gave him, and 
again sat still, watching her with round, admiring eyes 
as she moved about. 

" I think it's about time for you to go to bed now, 
James," his guardian said presently, and James rose 
promptly. 

" Would you mind calling me Jim ? It sounds 
kinder homesick to be called James," he said, with sud- 
den wist fulness engendered, even in his boyish spirit, 
by the shadows and the newness of the place. 

" Good-night, Jim," Miss Lucinda responded ; but 
Jim still stood looking at her with serious eyes. 

" My aunt useter kiss me good-night. You don't 
exactly look like the kissin' kind, and I ain't neither, 
but — but I didn't know, seein' 's you're so good to 
me, but — p'r'aps " — he flushed and shifted himself 
from one foot to the other. 

Miss Lucinda flushed, too, and looked greatly em- 
barrassed, but hers was no stony heart to refuse so 
gallant a suitor ; she stooped and kissed him awkwardly 



FICTION : JIM'S AUNT 257 

and flatteringly somewhere upon his forehead or hair ; 
but when she would have felt her duty over, he sud- 
denly seized her in an impetuous hug. He went up- 
stairs quickly, and Miss Lucinda sat down in her little 
rocking-chair with hot, red cheeks, and something 
deeper than embarrassment brought a new light into 
her clear eyes. 

" I think he tries hard to be a good boy," Miss 
Lucinda said to the minister when he next called, " but 
he does a great many things that are rather startling, 
and now and then he says something he oughtn't to." 

" Yes ? " the minister said, in kindly interest. 

" The very first day he got here, he swore at the 
table." The minister looked horrified. " Of course I 
spoke of it right off and he hasn't done it again. He 
was kind of excited about playing Indian, and I don't 
suppose he really meant it ; he said " — the minister 
reddened and looked away, and Miss Lucinda flushed 
— " he said ' Jiminy.' " The minister drew out his 
handkerchief and coughed slightly. " But, as I say, he 
hasn't said anything since, and I think I could get along 
very well if Fourth of July wasn't coming so soon. 
But what do you think ? He wants a soldier suit, and 
firecrackers, and all sorts of things. If only he hadn't 
come till after the Fourth ! I never did approve of it. 
I always did think it was a heathenish holiday," and 
Miss Lucinda broke off feelingly. 

After the minister had gone Miss Lucinda started 
to go to the village store. Jim usually did the errands, 
but this was something that had been overlooked, and 
he was at play, out of calling distance. 

On Miss Lucinda's return, as she came through the 
lane by a shorter road, she heard voices in the field 
beyond ; the speakers were hidden by a hedge, but she 



258 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

recognized the tones as Jim's and his playfellow's 
across the street. 

" Say, can't you march ? " said a wheedling voice. 

" No, I guess not," Jim's voice answered, a trifle 
dolefully. 

" Why not ? Won't she make you a suit ? " 

There was a little pause before Jim answered : 
" Well, I don't know's I care 'bout marchin'." 

" H'm ! you needn't say that. It's cause that stingy 
old maid won't make you anything to wear, I know." 

There was a sudden movement on the other side of 
the hedge. " You call her a stingy old maid again and 
you'll see ! She's a handsome lady, she is, and it ain't 
none o' your business if I don't want to march." 

" H'm ! you needn't git on your ear so dreadful 
quick. I wouldn't stand up for anybody that only let 
me earn money enough to buy two bunches of fire- 
crackers. Why, I've got two packages! A great 
Fourth o' July you'll have ! " 

" I've got some more money, but I ain't goin' to 
buy firecrackers ; I'm savin' it for a s'prise. Say, look- 
a-here, you see, Miss Tibbox ain't never had a boy 
'round, an' she don't understand 'bout Fourth o' July, 
that's all." 

Miss Lucinda did not wait to hear the answer, but 
went swiftly back to the village. 

The night before the Fourth, as Jim was going to 
bed. Miss Lucinda said : " Ain't you going to march 
with the boys to-morrow, Jim ? " 

Jim shook his head and looked at her solemnly. " I 
ain't got no suit. The fellers won't let you march 
without one. Never mind, I've given up lots of 
things. My aunt wa'nt much of a hand for doin' 
things, you know." 



FICTION: JIM'S AUNT 259 

Jim had never asked Miss Lucinda to kiss him good- 
night since that first time, when he felt so markedly 
homesick, and certainly she would never have offered 
to kiss him, so she merely said, as he took his light to 
go upstairs, " Good-night, Jim." 

But she sat down in her rocking-chair, quite near 
the dining-room door, with an expectant listening ex- 
pression on her face. Suddenly there arose a great 
commotion above, and Jim came tumbling down the 
stairs with wild shrieks of delight. 

" Oh, my gracious ! oh, my gracious ! " he cried. 
" Look-a-here, did you do it ? Ain't they butes ? I 
kin march now, can't I ? Oh, my Jimi — my gracious, 
my gracious ! " And he danced about the room, first 
on one foot and then on the other, waving in one 
hand a wonderful pair of red, white, and blue 
trousers, in the other a similarly gorgeous jacket. 

Miss Lucinda was really frightened ; she was not 
used to such demonstrations of joy. But Jim stopped 
his dancing presently, and, throwing his cherished out- 
fit on the floor, he embraced her rapturously, until she 
gravely extricated herself. 

" I'm glad you like it, Jim," she said a little 
stiffly. 

" Like it! " Jim shrieked, throwing himself about in 
another wild pantomime. " Like it ! Oh, my gracious, 
I'm 'fraid I shall bust ! " 

" I think you had better go to bed now," Miss 
Lucinda said, after a pause. 

Jim gathered up his suit and looked at her anxiously. 
" Should you mind if I was to git up dreadful early, 
if I didn't wake you up? " he asked. 

And Miss Lucinda, to her own amazement, found 



26o INDEPENDENCE DAY 

herself replying : " Well, no ; but don't get up too 
early." 

And after Jim was asleep, and it was time for her 
to retire, she went softly into his room to lay two 
packages of firecrackers on the chair beside the gay 
garments. 

Poor Miss Lucinda hid her head under the bed- 
clothes during the night, and when there came an 
extra loud explosion thought of Jim. But at break- 
fast-time he turned up safe and smiling. 

" I never had sech a good time in all my life be- 
fore. Say, Miss Tibbox, did you mean all those fire- 
crackers for me ? Well, if you ain't the nicest woman 
in the world ! I've got a s'prise for you, too. Just 
you wait and see ! " and he nodded mysteriously across 
the table at Miss Lucinda, who felt a vague mis- 
giving. 

"Why didn't you wear your soldier suit?" she 
asked. 

Jim beamed upon her. " Why, I'm a-savin' it. We 
don't march till ten o'clock. You don't know how 
much nicer it is to be in a percession than jest to look 
at it. I wish you could march^ too," he added politely. 
" But you'll come out on the piazza and watch us go 
by, won't you ? " 

And Miss Lucinda promised to be on the spot. 

If Jim had never passed another such day, it was 
as wholly unprecedented in Miss Lucinda Tarbox's 
calendar. Jim marched by the house as proud as a 
peacock in his new soldier suit, and raised a cheer 
to Miss Lucinda so loud and hearty that she retired 
blushing into the house. Then after dinner there was 
nothing for Miss Lucinda but to come out on the 
piazza and watch Jim fire off some of his crackers; 



FICTION : JIM'S AUNT 261 

and there the poor lady sat cringing and shrinking 
and trying to smile each time Jim would shout, 
" That's the loudest of all! " 

But the climax of the day was reached when Jim 
brought the minister home to supper. How it hap- 
pened that the minister appeared upon the scene at 
tea-time, Miss Lucinda could not understand ; but when 
he arrived, and Jim whispered in a loud aside, " I 
thought p'r'aps he might stay to supper," there was 
no alternative but a cordial invitation, which the 
minister accepted promptly. Miss Lucinda likewise 
never knew the remarks with which Jim escorted the 
minister to the house. " She's the very nicest woman 
in the world," he told the minister, " and I think she 
thinks you're a pretty nice sort of a chap." The 
minister never repeated these compliments of Jim's to 
Miss Lucinda. 

After tea, Jim's secret was revealed; he had in- 
vested the larger part of his small earnings in fire- 
works, which he was quite sure Miss Lucinda would 
enjoy, and he had invited the minister to supper that 
he might help him set them off. So Miss Lucinda 
came out on the porch in the darkness, and the minister 
and Jim paraded about in the neat little garden in 
front, and proceeded to diminish Jim's purchases. 
Presently the minister came up on the piazza and sat 
down beside Miss Lucinda, for the remaining fire- 
works could easily be disposed of by Jim. But just 
as the minister was considering whether the time was 
propitious for an advancement of his own interests, 
there came a sudden sharp cry from Miss Lucinda, 
and he turned to see a line of flame running about 
the paper belt of the gallant little showman. The 
minister was quick in his movements, and was down 



262 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

the path and had Jim in his arms and the fire 
smothered in a few moments, while Miss Lucinda was 
by his side, sobbing and bending over Jim's Httle 
form. 

" Oh, let me see him," she cried ; " the dear child ! 
Is he hurt very badly ? " 

Jim wriggled a little in the minister's amis, and 
opening his eyes, smiled on her. " Now don't you 
worry," he said cheerily, " I ain't hurt." 

" But I'm 'fraid I've spoilt my suit," he added when 
the minister had placed him on the lounge in Miss 
Lucinda's little sitting-room. 

" Oh, never mind the suit ! " Miss Lucinda cried, and 
Jim looked up at her in reproachful surprise. 

But it was quite true that he was not hurt, though 
rather weak from the fright, and presently he came 
out again, between the minister and Miss Lucinda, to 
sit on the piazza and watch the neighbors' fireworks. 

Jim, on the little stool at Miss Lucinda's feet, leaned 
his head against her knee. " I don't care, it's been a 
fine Fourth o' July," he murmured. 

" So it has," echoed the minister ; " don't you think 
so, Lucinda?" But Miss Lucinda's only answer was 
a blush and a consenting silence. 

" Do you mind now if I call you aunt? " Jim's voice 
asked. 

Miss Lucinda laid her hand gently on Jim's head. 
" No, dear," she said softly ; " no." 

" You might call me uncle," suggested the minister. 

Jim nodded brightly. '* All right," he said promptly ; 
" then we'll be a reg'lar family." 

And the new uncle and aunt smiled in the darkness. 



VIII 
THE NEW FOURTH 



OUR BARBAROUS FOURTH 

BY MRS. ISAAC L. RICE 
(From The Century Magazine, June, igo8.) 

In his first book, Marcus Aurelius gratefully ac- 
knowledges his obligation to Sextus of Chaeronea for 
having taught him to " express approbation without 
noisy display." Alas ! in all the centuries which have 
elapsed since the time of this emperor-philosopher, we 
have not yet learned to appreciate the wisdom of his 
counsel ; and every holiday, in our country, at least, 
is made the occasion of a strident outburst of hood- 
lumism. Hallowe'en, Election Day, Christmas, New 
Year's, Inauguration Day, and Fourth of July, each 
witnesses our thoroughfares thronged with shouting 
and disorderly crowds, provided with every noisy de- 
vice from the tin trumpet to the dangerous pistol, 
while shrieks of whistles shrill maddeningly above the 
street clamor and the booming of bells. Accidents 
occur, the sick are made worse by these frenzied 
demonstrations, and the young fail to appreciate the 
significance of the day which is being so unbeautifully 
celebrated. 

Of all these " noise- fests," the most shocking is the 
Fourth of July, and its grim statistics probably furnish 
a sadder commentary on human folly than that af- 
forded by any other celebration in the world. 

265 



266 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

I often wonder what would be the emotions of a 
stranger, quite ignorant of our institutions, if he ar- 
rived in our country — " God's Country," as we af- 
fectionately call it — just before midsummer, and 
glanced over our great newspapers. After reading 
some items, such as the following, would he be apt 
to await a great and glorious anniversary, or the ad- 
vent of a day of strife and terror? 

The horrible Fourth will soon be here. ... In all 
the big cities the Fourth of July is now looked forward 
to with apprehension and looked back upon with a shud- 
der, and even with horror. 

Or, 

The Board of Health has established supply stations of 
tetanus antitoxin throughout the city. The National Vol- 
unteer Emergency Service has established field dressing 
stations in the thickly populated sections. The hospitals 
also expect their usual busy day. 

And then he would read head-lines like these : 

THE NATIONAL BATTLE-FIELD 

CARNAGE BEGINS ON HOLIDAY EVE. 

BLOODIEST FOURTH YET 

DEATHS AND INJURIES IN FOURTH OF 

JULY'S WAKE 

After our stranger had grasped the fact that this 
was not the record of a battle or other public calamity, 
but merely some details regarding the manner in which 
a great nation commemorates the most solemn event 
in its history, I doubt whether he would have an ex- 



THE NEW FOURTH 267 

alted opinion of a people who could desecrate so noble 
a memory by so barbarous an observance. 

The fitting celebration of Independence Day is a 
question on which patriotic Americans are separated 
into two widely divergent parties, one claiming that 
it ought to be observed as noisily as possible, the 
other believing that our national birthday is too glori- 
ous an occasion to be marred by din and disorder. Of 
course we know that even among those who favor 
a boisterous observance there are many who cannot 
tolerate it themselves, and escape to the country in 
order to avoid the tortures of the " awful Fourth " ; 
just as we know that a large proportion of the noise- 
makers, including the small boy and the big boy, too, 
is heedless, if not ignorant, of all that our holiday 
stands for, and thinks of it only as a time when 
clamor may reign unrestrained.^ 

The figures which indicate the price that we pay 
for each of our yearly celebrations are so appalling 
that one would suppose a knowledge of them would 
be the most powerful deterrent to our annual mas- 
sacre. This, unfortunately, is not the case. For the 
past five pears, the Journal of the American Medical 
Association has endeavored to collect statistics set- 
ting forth what the celebration of the Fourth costs 
in life and human usefulness; and although these are 
admittedly incomplete, — compiled, as they are, almost 
entirely from newspaper reports instead of from 

1 The following is an instance of this: Last Fourth of 
July, a police court magistrate, wishing to know how many 
of the prisoners before him, charged ivith shooting in the 
streets, could possibly plead patriotic motives, asked each in 
turn to state his nationality. Of the twenty in line, only two 
were American-born. 



268 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

records of hospitals, dispensaries, and physicians, — 
they form the gravest possible arraignment of the 
recklessness which is willing to pay such a price for 
a " jolly day." They show that during the celebration 
of five national birthdays, from 1903 to 1907 in- 
clusive, eleven hundred and fifty-three persons were 
killed, and twenty-one thousand five hundred and 
twenty were injured! Of the injured, eighty-eight 
suffered total, and three hundred and eighty-nine par- 
tial, blindness ; three hundred and eight persons lost 
arms, legs, or hands, and one thousand and sixty-seven 
lost one or more fingers. But these figures, startling as 
they are, convey only a faint idea of the suffering, 
both physical and mental, which went to swell the 
total cost of these five holidays ; in this we must also 
include the weeks and often months of anguish of 
the injured, the suspense of entire families while the 
fate of some loved one hung in the balance, the hor- 
ror of a future of sightless years, the pinching poverty 
now the lot of many because of the death or maiming 
of the breadwinner. 

But putting aside the question of fatalities, of in- 
validism, of blindness, of penury, the effect on the 
sick of a long continuance of explosive noises, vary- 
ing in intensity for days, or even weeks, and deafen- 
ing for twenty-four hours at least, merits serious con- 
sideration. That the return of our " glorious 
Fourth " is looked forward to with dread by our 
hospital-sick, as well as by those who are concerned 
in their care, was made pathetically clear to me last 
summer when I interviewed the superintendents of 
almost all our municipal institutions. One and all 
deplored the needless suffering inflicted on their pa- 
tients by our barbarous manner of celebration, and 



THE NEW FOURTH 269 

begged me to bring the matter to the attention of the 
Police Department.^ 

In this connection, a letter from Dr. Thomas 
Darlington, Commissioner of Health, is of interest : 

I agree entirely with you in regard to the serious in- 
jury inflicted upon patients in the hospitals occasioned by 
the common practice of exploding firecrackers and tor- 
pedoes in the immediate vicinity. 

Professor William Hanna Thomson took the same 
stand when he stated : 

I rejoice to hear that your Society for the Suppression 
of Unnecessary Noise proposes to have measures taken to 
lessen the explosions of firecrackers and firearms in the 
neighborhood of our city hospitals on the Fourth of July. 
Such noises are particularly injurious, both from their 
nature and their being of an unusual kind, to patients 
with any high fever, such as typhoid, and it will be a 
great service to humanity to have them suppressed, if not 
altogether, as most sane people will acknowledge, yet at 
least near institutions harboring a variety of patients. 

One feature of our celebration which has not yet 
been touched upon is the cost. Last year, New York 

1 / may here say, in passing, that our Police Commissioner, 
recognising the humane necessity of properly safeguarding 
the sick, sent out officers with orders to prevent disturbances 
in the vicinity of hospitals. Thanks to his action, the city's 
sick had a day of comparative peace, and the reports which 
I received that night were unanimous in stating that the hos- 
pitals had never had such a quiet Fourth. A letter written 
by Mother Celso, Mother-Superior of St. Elizabeth's Hos- 
pital, ivill show how gratefully General Bingham's thought- 
fulness was appreciated: "It seems as if we were in Para- 
dise. The patients, the doctors, and the sisters all appreciate 
the quietness of the day." 



270 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

City boasted of an outlay of four million dollars, while 
the country as a whole burned up the huge sum of 
twenty million dollars in fireworks. Finally, we 
must add the vast sum lost by conflagrations before 
we are in a position to realize the whole price that we 
pay for our day of jollity. 

It is interesting to remark how strongly the press 
is beginning to voice its protest against our " noise- 
fest " — a protest now largely seconded by public 
opinion, although a few years ago it would have been 
regarded as woefully unpatriotic. Here are a few ex- 
cerpts gathered last July from widely scattered papers, 
which are unanimous in decrying our present-day ob- 
servance : 

The most ridiculous and senseless celebration of any 
great national event. — New York Commercial. 

What the connection is between explosives and patri- 
otism, no one has ever undertaken to describe. — Utica 
Press. 

The people must be educated to appreciate the folly of 
dynamite as a factor in patriotism. — Chicago Daily 
Tribune. 

Time to consider how our annual worship of the God 
of Noise is to be abolished. This blatant and death-deal- 
ing Divinity long ago usurped the shrine occupied by 
Patriotism. Every year we carry and lay on his bloody 
altars human sacrifices, like the tribute of maidens to the 
Minotaur — only they are mostly boys. And so, year 
after year, the " Glorious Fourth " becomes more and 
more a dread festival of blood and fire and noise, of death 
and mayhem. — Minneapolis Journal. 

The traditional gunpowder and dynamite orgies of In- 
dependence Day are wrong. Firearms and explosives 
have no place in any sane scheme of city life. — Cleveland 
Plain Dealer. 



THE NEW FOURTH 271 

The day on which human folly too frequently runs 
amuck. . . . That the achievement of our national 
independence, brought about through the necessary spill- 
ing of great quantities of blood, should be commemorated 
by the very general loss of life and limb is as unneces- 
sary as it is deplorable. — Union (Manchester, N. H.). 

Americans are realizing that noises, maimed and 
wounded children, and big conflagrations should not be 
the sequence of the Nation's birthday. — Toledo Blade. 

What ought to be the most enjoyable day in the calen- 
dar, is made a day of general carnage and a day toward 
which adults look forward with dread and whose passing 
they look back upon with a sense of mighty relief. — 
Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.). 

It is the money burned up in useless and dangerous ex- 
plosives that is wasted, serving no better purpose than 
to leave the city with a headache the morning after. — 
Republic (St. Louis), 

The din ... is hideously vulgar and utterly un- 
civilized . . . discreditable to those who make it and 
to the civil authorities who permit it. — Evening Wiscon- 
sin (Milwaukee). 

I fain would haul down the red flag of our modern 
Fourth of July and, in its place, run up the flag of peace, 
quietude, rest, contentment, and personal safety. — Life 
(New York). 

The total results of our last " jolly celebration " of 
Independence Day were 164 killed and 4,249 injured, 
many of them being maimed for life ! Is this method of 
celebration really worth while? — Journal Amer. Med. 
Assn. (Chicago). 

How can any satisfaction be taken in the perversion of 
a holiday to purposes of disorder and destruction, and 
how can any pride be felt in methods of observance which 
inevitably condemn hundreds — if not thousands — to be 
shot, burned, maimed, and otherwise disfigured and tor- 



272 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

tured in propitiation of the great god of senseless uproar? 
— New York Tribune. 

As for those who are in favor of continuing our 
present mode of celebration, I can find but one who 
has written openly in its defense, and even then there 
is a suspicion that the article is ironical. 

It is better to shock the sensitive nerves of a few grown 
people than to have the boys and girls grow up molly- 
coddles, with the fear of gunpowder in their hearts and 
no appreciation of a boisterous holiday, rich in patriotic 
appeal, and full of the " rough house " spirit of healthy 
Americanism. 

This, if seriously meant, reaches the height of 
absurdity; for if there is one thing of which little chil- 
dren should have a wholesome dread, it is gunpowder, 
and I know of no other country in which such a 
weapon is put into the hands of babes. 

It is customary with us to excuse ourselves for 
Fourth of July accidents by putting all the blame on 
the small boy. This, however, seems scarcely fair. 
The blame for much of the annual massacre rests not 
upon the careless small boy, but upon the careless 
big parent who places in his hand the instrument of 
destruction. And an even greater share of the blame 
is due to public apathy, which not only allows the 
annual suspension of sane and safe ordinances regu- 
lating the use of firearms and explosives, but also per- 
mits the disorderly few to injure the health and 
disturb the repose of the orderly many. 

As proving that noise is the great desideratum in 
fireworks, a few extracts from various catalogues will 



THE NEW FOURTH 273 

prove interesting. Here, for instance, is a piece the 
figures of which, according to the thriUing description, 
move about " whistHng and screaming in fantastic, 
wild, unearthly furore, terminating with a fusillading 
report," and another which bursts " with terrific re- 
ports that can be heard for miles," while a third ex- 
plodes " with reports equal to six- and twelve-pound 
cannons," and a fourth like " an imitation rapid-fire 
Gatling-gun," An appreciative testimonial lauds a 
*' Salute of LYDDITE SHELLS, nothing giving such 
a tremendous report having ever before been heard in 
our celebration,? while other goods are emphatically 
praised as being " loudest and best," or " big in 
noise." One particular piece is noticeable because it 
consists of a string of fifty thousand firecrackers. 
As corroborative of all this, which tends to show that 
noise is what is desired above all else in fireworks, 
comes this published interview with a dealer, which is 
certainly illuminating : 

The exploding cane is always a winner so long as it 
is not suppressed by the police. Blank cartridges come 
up at the head of the list. Nothing gives a celebrator so 
much pleasure as flourishing a pistol and shooting several 
times in rapid succession. There is just one thing that 
determines the efficiency of any contrivance designed for 
celebrating the Fourth, and that is, the volume of sound 
it makes. For that reason the cannon firecrackers are 
popular, and always will remain so. 

This, then, is what excites the patriotic fervor of 
the partisans of a strident Fourth, though it does seem 
as if their enthusiasm would be somewhat lessened in 



274 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

placing side by side with the above this extract from 
the Journal of the American Medical Association, 
which considers the causative factors of the after- 
math of last Independence Day : 

Of the 102 deaths aside from tetanus, gunshot wounds 
caused twenty, giant crackers caused thirteen, and thir- 
teen deaths were due to explosions of powder, torpedoes 
and dynamite. Ten deaths were due to falls or runaways 
caused by firecrackers. . . . The limit of tolerance 
is reached, however, when we know that thirty-one per- 
sons were burned to death. . . . The principal cause 
of the most mutilating wounds is by far the giant cracker. 
. . . This year 1,489 injuries, including thirteen deaths 
and eight cases of lockjaw, were due to the giant cracker. 

It is a reflection scarcely calculated to gratify our 
national pride that the United States is the only civil- 
ized country which observes the greatest of its fete- 
days in such an uncivilized fashion. Our sister re- 
publics, France, Switzerland, and Brazil, rejoice full 
as heartily as we over their national birthdays, but 
they celebrate them in a sane, safe, wholesome, and 
happy way, and not in our barbarous manner. As re- 
gards the observance of the French fete, July 14th, 
Marcel Prevost, the eminent writer, has kindly de- 
scribed it for me in the following letter : 

The fete of July 14th is, above all, in France, a day of 
popular rejoicing; politics do not enter into it. It affords 
an opportunity of illuminating the town-halls and public 
buildings, and of indulging in the pleasure of dancing in 
the open air. In a word, it is a huge kermess. It has 
always taken place in order and tranquillity. Accidents 
are rare, even in Paris. And since the review at Long- 



THE NEW FOURTH 275 

champs has humanely been arranged to take place at nhie 
in the morning, instead of at noon, the troops do not run 
the risk of sunstroke, which sometimes saddened the early 
fetes of July 14th. 

The following touchingly beautiful account of the 
observance of Switzerland's birthday was sent me by 
Dr. Eugene Richard, Member of the Council of State : 

Year by year the people of Switzerland keep the anni- 
versary of 1291, which was in real truth the foundation 
of the Confederation. Does that treaty — founded by the 
inhabitants of the Forest Cantons, borrowing from jus- 
tice her most equitable principles (even down to that of 
arbitration between states), and guaranteed by the rigid 
energy of its signers — receive a commemoration worthy 
of its splendid simplicity? 

No clamorous ceremony, to drown the voices of the 
past, instead of blending with them. We give proof of 
our remembrance of the First of August by a few brief 
manifestations during the closing hours of the day. 

This national solemnity, surprising as it may seem, 
finds no place in the list of legal holidays. No one inter- 
rupts his daily tasks, for such was the way with the men 
of 1291, who, returning to their homes, took up again the 
care of their herds. 

As night descends, the bells on all the cluirches are set 
to pealing in a sublime concert of gratitude, rising with 
penetrating poetry through the serenity and softness of a 
summer night. Shortly afterward bonfires are kindled 
along the heights. Here and there will be a modest il- 
lumination or rare display of fireworks. Occasionally an 
orator reminds the people of the significance of their re- 
joicing and holds up for imitation the character of our 
ancestors. 

Whoever witnesses this spectacle realizes the strength 
and the sincerity of a patriotism that, without clamor or 
ostentation, draws fresh life by reverting to its original 



276 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

sources. Switzerland lives in the heart of her citizens. 
A noisy demonstration would take from us the benefit of 
a thoughtful mood. 

In order to produce an impression both profound and 
salutary, national celebrations must needs have a per- 
vading tranquillity, which enhances their dignity, and 
leads mankind to earnest thought. 

According to a very charming letter from his Ex- 
cellency, Senor Joaquin Nabuco, Brazilian Ambassa- 
dor, it appears that although his countrymen do not 
observe their festivals with that calm, patriotic fervor 
which characterizes the Swiss, and although they re- 
joice in noise as well as in color, there is nothing to 
show that their holidays are marred by that disorder 
and by those horrible lists of casualties and accidents 
which disgrace the celebration of our great anni- 
versary. 

The following delightful description of Germany's 
greatest festival, the Emperor's birthday, has been 
given me by Professor Hugo Miinsterberg of Harvard 
University: 

When I look backward to my boyhood days in Ger- 
many and ask myself from what sources my young pa- 
triotism was steadily supplied, I cannot value highly 
enough the influence of the patriotic celebrations in my 
school and my native town. The dearest memory be- 
longs to the Emperor's birthday. I know quite well that 
the present Emperor was born in January ; but when I 
hear the word " Emperor's birthday/' it still always 
awakes in me first the date of the 22d of March — the old 
Emperor's day. 

Long before, the school planned everything for the 
grand day ; patriotic and religious music, songs and pa- 



THE NEW FOURTH 277 

triotic declamations by the younger pupils, short dramatic 
plays with motives from German history, given by the 
older boys, and always an enthusiastic oration by one of 
the teachers. In Sunday clothes we gathered in the 
school ; everything was decorated with flowers and gar- 
lands and flags, and the whole school continuously, year 
by year, was lifted up in a common pride and enthusiasm. 
Two or three of the happiest morning hours were devoted 
to the celebration, and the jubilant hurrah for the beloved 
Emperor at the end of the historic oration was the only 
sound of the day. 

Then we streamed out into the decorated streets, en- 
joyed the picturesque parades and went to the concert at 
the market-place, where patriotic marches kindled our 
youthful emotions. The afternoon belonged to parties at 
home, where school friends gathered and enjoyed their 
games with a historic flavor and the chocolate with a pa- 
triotic abundance of cakes. Quiet, mellow days they were, 
and any loud noise would have appeared to us boys as 
a desecration of the festivity ; and yet the loyalty which 
I stored up in those March days of my boyhood still sup- 
plies me amply when I have, year for year on the 27th 
of January, to make my Emperor's birthday orations to 
the German-Americans. 

An interesting account of the manner in which 
Japan celebrates her fetes was kindly written for me 
by his Excellency Viscount Aoki, recently Japanese 
Ambassador to the United States : 

In Japan we have three great national holidays. They 
are November 3d, the present Emperor's birthday; New 
Year's Day; and February nth, the Day of the Accession 
of the Emperor Jimmu, the first ruler of the Empire of 
Japan. 

An illustration of the Emperor's birthday celebration 



278 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

in Japan will be sufficient to give a general idea as to how 
our national holidays are celebrated at home, for there 
is little difference in the way of its celebration between 
the above-named three holidays, except in minor details: 
On the Emperor's birthday all offices, schools, banks, 
and large business houses are closed. The national flag 
is hoisted on all public buildings, schools, and on most of 
the private houses all over the country. High dignitaries, 
both civil and military, who are present in the capital, 
proceed to the Palace of Tokio to present before the 
throne their congratulations for the occasion, while those 
in the country and abroad send their congratulatory mes- 
sages by mail through the Minister for the Imperial 
Household. In every school all over the country the day 
is observed in a form appropriate to the occasion. One 
hundred and one salutes are fired from every fort in the 
empire. The imperial review of the army is in regular 
order of the celebration of the day, when hundreds of 
thousands of the enthusiastic public gather around the 
drill-ground and all along the imperial route to cheer 
their august and beloved sovereign and to witness the 
glorious military parade of the day, while all of his Maj- 
esty's ships fire twenty-one salutes (otherwise known as 
the national salute) and appear in full dress. The Em- 
peror entertains in the palace at breakfast all the foreign 
representatives and high dignitaries of the empire. 

And now let us listen to what some of our promi- 
nent Americans, whose patriotism none can assail, 
have to say about our present-day observance. First 
" Mark Twain," in whose heart of hearts the small 
boy is enshrined, and who certainly would not need- 
lessly curtail even one of his little pleasures. Does he 
approve of our day of "burning" patriotism? No; 
for he has written to me : 



THE NEW FOURTH 279 

I am with you sincerely in your crusade against the 
bedlam frenzies of the Fourth of July. 

And William Dean Howells : 

I am glad that you have added to your noble and 
beneficent ambition to suppress all unnecessary noises the 
wish especially to deal with the barbarous and obstreper- 
ous celebration of the Fourth of July. I am sure that 
Confucius did not invent gunpowder, and that it was not 
Chinese zvisdom which gave us firecrackers. Until we 
cease to glorify our national birthday like a nation of 
lawless boys we shall have no right to claim that we have 
come of age, and the civilized world must regard us as 
savages until we stop behaving like them. 

And one of our poets : 

It is good news that you are turning your attention to 
the subject of the irrational manner in which Americans 
celebrate their independence. I am sure you will not 
merely advocate the suppression of meaningless noise, 
and that you will indicate such fetes, ceremonies, pageants, 
and celebrations in general as are rational and instruc- 
tive; also, that you will hint at a broader and more in- 
spiring use of the day than either arousing old and 
debasing international enmities or the display of indecent 
self-glorification. 

As to the suppression of Fourth of July noise, with its 
dangers to nerve, limb, and life, the whole sensible popu- 
lation will wish you a continuance of that success which 
has followed your efforts on a narrower scale in the 
metropolis. I am reminded that in the sweet and peace- 
ful valley from which I write the national holiday is 
looked forward to with apprehension, on account of the 
dreadful, sleep-scattering noises of the night and dawn 



28o INDEPENDENCE DAY 

before. On the Fourth, why should we not have music 
instead of noise, art, instead of gunpowder? Every com- 
munity in the United States will have occasion to bless 
your name and memory if you can do something sub- 
stantial toward making more quiet and more ennobling 
the anniversary of the day that gave the Republic birth. 

Here, too, is a letter from Dr. Weir Mitchell : 

If anything can be done to lessen the noise of the 
Fourth of July celebrations, it will also be efficient in 
lessening the amount of injuries inflicted by the desire 
of man and boy to make meaningless noises. Not only 
does it leave the Fourth of July as an annually recurrent 
unpleasant memory, but there is the same absurd tendency 
to extend the nuisance of noises into other days. Thus 
at present in this city, and I presume elsewhere, the first 
of the year is ushered in by a vast chorus of idiotic 
noises produced by steam-whistles, firecrackers, and 
horns, accompanied by a solemn bell-ringing, such as in 
old times called those who watched for the coming of 
the New Year to prayer. 

That our Commissioner of Health fully recognizes 
the necessity of bringing about a saner mode of cele- 
bration is shown by the following letter : 

Your plan to include, as part of the activities of the 
Society for the Suppression of Unnecessary Noise, the 
question of a more sensible celebration of the Fourth of 
July, meets with my most hearty approval. The long 
list of killed and wounded, which comes as the result of 
what should be a day of patriotic inspiration, is certainly 
appalling, and indicative of how far we have strayed 
from its true spirit. 

Your efforts to induce the people of this country to 



THE NEW FOURTH 281 

celebrate its most joyous anniversary in a manner fitting 
and appropriate, provide an object which should enlist 
the sympathy and cooperation of all who have the wel- 
fare of their country at heart. 

And finally ... I offer this letter from the 
Hon. Henry L. West, Commissioner of the District 
of Columbia, which shows that even officialdom is 
willing to risk the charge of lack of patriotism, if by 
so doing our boys and girls may be saved from the 
horrors of a day of catastrophes : 

I am thoroughly in sympathy with any movement which 
will result in decreasing the habit of carelessly using gun- 
powder on the Fourth of July and which will also result 
in a more quiet celebration of the day. 

In Washington the authorities have already taken a 
step in the right direction in forbidding the explosion of 
the so-called giant firecrackers, nor is it allowable to 
place torpedoes on the street railway tracks. 

I believe that the Fourth of July can be celebrated with 
as much patriotism and more sanity if the wanton use of 
gunpowder on that day is condemned. 

And now, before taking up the question of what 
might be suggested as a more reverent and appro- 
priate mode of honoring our day of days, let us look 
back a hundred years or so, and see how our first 
national birthdays were kept. Here it is encourag- 
ing to learn that nothing resembling in the least our 
wuld orgy of noise was dreamed of. Indeed, had such 
a suggestion been breathed to the sons and daughters 
of our Revolutionary heroes, they would probably 
have felt that the plan savored more of China, the 
land of noise and the home of the firecracker, than 



282 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

of their own country, and have been profoundly 
shocked at the mere idea that such an anniversary 
could receive so murderous a recognition. A glance 
over the time-yellowed pages of the Evening Post, 
printed more than a century ago, or those of the Nezv 
York Packet, which was old when the Post was 
young, shows how differently the Fourth was ob- 
served by those who had seen burst into full flower 
that glorious patriotism which had given it birth. 
The proclamations, announcements, poems, and ad- 
vertisements which appeared in those July days of 
long ago are touching in their patriotic, though 
grandiloquent, fervor. Here, for instance, is a bit 
from an announcement of the Tammany Association 
which appeared in the " Season of Fruit, Year of the 
Discovery, 310" (July i) : 

Brothers. This Day, like the Sun which illuminates it, 
sheds a bright and diffusive luster, and welcomes all to 
partake of its radiance. Once it witnessed the blood- 
stained field, the plundered town, the ravaged coast, the 
sinking warrior, the defenseless town, the despondency 
of our Guardian Genius. But the Great Spirit watched 
over the western clime, and now its approach is hailed 
with the incense of Peace; and the veteran rejoices in 
his scars, the hoary chief and his patriot sons assemble 
with congratulations where once the noise of battle was 
heard, and the Eagle towers aloft majestic and unawed. 

In these days the celebration began with unfurling 
the flag, a salute of thirteen guns and ringing of 
church-bells, followed by a procession and exchange of 
courtesies between the Governor and the President. 
Then came the march to church, where odes, ad- 
dresses, anthems, and orations were in order with, of 



THE NEW FOURTH 



-iOj 



course, the reading of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. Next, luncheon, with more salutes and bell- 
ringing and then, evening having come, performances 
in theaters and gardens and the meeting of various 
patriotic societies. Everything connected with the per- 
formances was patrictically reminiscent. In the gar- 
dens, transparencies and fireworks portrayed temples 
of immortality, obelisks of heroes, and figures of Jus- 
tice, Fidelity, Fame, and Piety, all radiantly inter- 
mingled with shining pictures of Washington and of 
the Arms of the United States, with its brilliant stars, 
while at the theater, patriotic plays were given, such as 
" Bunker Hill " or the " Death of Warren and the 
Glory of Columbia " or the " Retrospect of the Amer- 
ican Revolution." This all refers to New York, but it 
is probable that virtually the same observance obtained 
in other large cities. 

Let us now consider what might be substituted for 
our present-day mad and dangerous celebration, which 
serves only to keep in remembrance one feature of our 
great struggle, the cannonading and musketry-dis- 
charges which shook the country during the arduous 
days of its birth. I sincerely believe that our national 
birthday can be observed with heartfelt patriotic re- 
joicing, and yet without the slightest danger to life or 
limb, without any nerve-racking noise or display of 
hoodlumism, and without any of the extravagant out- 
lay which has characterized our former celebrations. 
Flags can float, national music be played and sung in 
places now given over solely to the deafening din of 
cannon firecrackers, the Declaration of Independence 
be read at all of our public buildings, where inspiring 
addresses may also be made, and street-displays, such 
as processions with floats, beautiful as well as instruc- 



284 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

tive, furnish delightful object-lessons of the greatest 
events in our history. Then, at night, we may have 
illuminations, both private and municipal, and displays 
of fireworks in open places, where the exhibitions can 
be conducted by experienced men, thus avoiding all 
danger of the shocking accidents which now sadden 
our celebration. Let us, on this day, forget the noise 
of battle and the passions of international strife, and 
remember only the wonderful spirit of sacrifice, and 
patriotism, and brotherhood which animated our Revo- 
lutionary heroes. Let us, who know what the day 
means, endeavor to make it both memorable and illu- 
minating to those who do not, by opening the hearts of 
the children, of the poor and ignorant, of the distressed 
and disheartened alien within our gates, to at least a 
partial significance of what we honor in our glorious 
festival. Let us enter personally into the work, giving 
tender endeavor as well as means to the task of mak- 
ing the occasion the happiest of all the year to the 
ignorant and the wretched. Let us give them a day 
of liberty in the country or in the parks, where they 
will see our beautiful flag floating everywhere about 
them, and where their untrained ears will become ac- 
customed to the ringing rhythm of our national melo- 
dies. Let us give them mementos of the Fourth, such 
as flags and pictures of our heroes and of those whom 
we love as well as honor. There let them listen to 
the story of the birth of our Republic, and have it told 
simply and, if necessary, in their own tongues, so that 
all can feel how great were those who made the coun- 
try free, and how wonderful is the boon of liberty now 
extended to the oppressed of other countries. 



THE NEW FOURTH 285 



A SAFE AND SANE FOURTH OF JULY 

BY HENRY LITCHFIELD WEST 
(From The Forum, August, 1909.) 

A LITTLE more than a year ago the Century Maga- 
!:ine contained a vigorous and convincing article by 
Mrs. Isaac L. Rice, entitled " Our Barbarous Fourth." 
It was a protest against a condition of affairs in the 
United States which had long attracted attention but 
which no one, up to that time, had criticised in such 
emphatic terms. " The grim statistics of the Fourth of 
July," said the article, " probably furnish a sadder 
commentary of human folly than that afforded by any 
other celebration in the world." . . . 

It is true that a few thoughtful people had in more 
or less nonchalant manner observed the terrible toll 
of death and injury which the evil celebration of 
the day demanded. Quite a number of newspapers — 
notably the Chicago Tribune — were questioning the 
wisdom of a method which in one day had resulted in 
the death of 164 people, and the injury of nearly 
5,000. " How can any satisfaction," asked the New 
York Tribune, " be taken in the perversion of a holi- 
day to purposes of disorder and destruction, and how 
can any pride be felt in methods of observance which 
inevitably condemn hundreds — if not thousands — to 
be shot, burned, maimed, and otherwise disfigured and 
tortured in propitiation of the great god of senseless 
uproar?" The St. Paul Pioneer Press deplored the 
fact that a day which ought to be the most enjoyable 
in the calendar had become a day of general carnage ; 



286 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

while the New York Commercial characterized the 
popular celebration as ridiculous and senseless. 

Notwithstanding these occasional utterances of 
truth, which indicated a growing sentiment, the fact is, 
that at the time of the appearance of " Our Barbarous 
Fourth " there was only one city in the country 
wherein any curb had been placed upon the insensate 
and reckless custom of observing the Fourth of July 
with dynamite and gunpowder. The cemeteries and 
the hospitals were claiming their victims and yet no 
one in authority seemed courageous enough to call a 
halt for fear of being charged with lack of patriotism. 
I believe, however, that the article in question ap- 
peared at the psychological moment. It was so 
straightforward in its presentation of the facts, so 
earnest in its appeal and so logical in its assertion that 
there were numerous sensible ways of celebrating our 
national holiday, that it made a profound impression 
everywhere. At any rate, the fact is, that before that 
article appeared only one city in the country had pro- 
hibited the sale and explosion of fireworks, while 
within a short period after it had been printed the 
authorities in several cities took radical action along 
the lines therein suggested. It is no exaggeration to 
say that within the next ten years the old barbarous 
Fourth of July will have entirely disappeared, and it 
is also within the bounds of accurate statement to add 
that the one greatest individual factor in accomplishing 
the much-needed reform is the author of the Century 
article. 

All this is by way of preface to the fact that the ex- 
periment of a safe and sane Fourth of July was tried 
this year in the National Capital ; and in the belief that 
its details will prove of general interest, they are here- 



THE NEW FOURTH 287 

with recorded. If, as now seems to be the case, we 
are on the verge of a revokition in the customs which 
have been in vogue for half a century, the methods by 
which the change is to be accompHshed are not with- 
out their value and significance. 

The celebration of the national holiday in the capital 
a year ago had been marked by so many accidents and 
fires that some protest against the indiscriminate use of 
fireworks was uttered, and the Commissioners who 
govern the city declared themselves in published inter- 
views in favor of a safer and saner observance of the 
day. No definite action was taken, however, until 
last November, when the question became acute be- 
cause hundreds of dealers in fireworks in the city were 
naturally anxious to know whether they would be per- 
mitted to handle explosives. Inquiry of other cities 
brought forth the fact that Cleveland had already 
enacted an ordinance forbidding the sale and discharge 
of fireworks, and a copy of this ordinance was secured. 
In Washington, as ought to be generally known, there 
is no common council or board of aldermen, but all 
regulations governing the municipality are promul- 
gated by the three Commissioners under authority 
delegated to them by Congress. The question whether 
Washington should undertake the experiment of a 
non-explosive Fourth rested, therefore, with these 
three men, and it did not take them long to reach their 
conclusion. One of them had, more than a year previ- 
ously, fonnally expressed his S3mipathy with the ob- 
ject sought to be attained by the opponents of the 
barbarous Fourth, and his colleagues were, happily, of 
the same opinion. In November, therefore, eight 
months before the arrival of the holiday, the following 
regulation was enacted : 



288 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

" No firecracker, squib, or other fireworks of any kind 
shall be sold and delivered, discharged or set off within 
the city of Washington, or the fire limits of the District of 
Columbia, or in the more densely populated portions of 
said District; provided, however, on occasions of public 
celebration and exhibition fireworks may be discharged or 
set off on special permits issued by the Commissioners 
defining the time, place, storage and such other condi- 
tions to be observed in reference thereto as they may deem 
necessary to the public safety. No gun, air gun, rifle, air 
rifle, pistol, revolver, or other firearm, cannon or torpedo 
shall be discharged or set off within the city of Washing- 
ton, or the fire limits of the District of Columbia, with- 
out a special written permit therefor from the Major and 
Superintendent of Police, nor within five hundred yards 
of the Potomac River, Eastern Branch, or Anacostia 
River, Rock Creek, or any public road, highway, school- 
house, building or buildings, shed, barn, outhouse, public 
park, reservation, graveyard or burial place, playground, 
golf course, tennis court, picnic ground, camp ground, 
or any place where people are accustomed to congregate, 
inclosure for stock, railroad track, outside of such fire 
limits for the District of Columbia, without the written 
consent of the owner or occupant thereof and a special 
written permit from the Major and Superintendent of 
Police." 

No law or regulation can, however, be efifective un- 
less it is sustained by public sentiment. The Commis- 
sioners were fortunate in securing the voluntary and 
enthusiastic support of the members of the Board of 
Trade and the Chamber of Commerce, the representa- 
tive local organizations, and, in general, the citizenship 
of the capital was favorably disposed to the new order 
of things. Committees were formed for the purpose of 
providing two patriotic public entertainments, one 



THE NEW FOURTH 289 

in the morning to consist of the reading of the Decla- 
ration of Independence and appropriate addresses, and 
the other to include a fine display of fireworks at night 
upon the ellipse south of the White House. The 
funds for the latter were promptly supplied by public 
subscription, and the affair was managed most success- 
fully by a volunteer committee, no less than forty 
thousand people witnessing the display. In the mean- 
time, the residents of various sections of the District 
undertook to uphold sympathetically the Commission- 
ers by devising their own collective celebrations. In 
Cleveland Park, an attractive suburban district, there 
was a public meeting with a programme of fireworks 
handled by experts, while Bloomingdale, another well- 
settled section, enjoyed a day of athletic sports, 
speeches and aerial fireworks. In short, the people of 
the District of Columbia cheerfully accepted the proc- 
lamation, which was issued by the Commissioners, in- 
viting attention to the police regulations which had 
been adopted " to provide against the dangers incident 
to the manner of observing the Fourth of July and 
Christmas, which previously prevailed," and appealing 
" to the people of the District of Columbia heartily to 
second their efforts by observing and counseling the 
observance of these regulations." 

Nor were the entertainments already mentioned the 
only forms of celebration. The Washington Post con- 
ceived the idea of an automobile floral-flag parade, and 
this event proved to be a genuine spectacular and 
artistic success. There were over a hundred motor 
cars in line, and the decorations were extremely novel 
and pleasing. One automobile was reconstructed into 
an accurate representation of the Confederate ram 
Merrimac, and was manned by young men in sailor 



290 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

costumes ; another was converted into a yacht with 
masts and sails; another was a floral boat apparently 
drawn by an enormous white swan ; and still another 
was in the form of a pergola, decorated with wistaria 
vines and blossoms. An electric machine which 
elicited the applause of the thousands v/ho lined the 
route of parade was apparently a huge wicker basket 
of pink roses, in the center of which and surmounted 
by a canopy of roses was seated the lady who operated 
the car. Another electric machine was a symphony 
in red, white and blue. Altogether, the event proved 
to be a most unique and beautiful celebration, and the 
committee of artists who awarded the cups and other 
prizes, valued at $1,500, was confronted by a most 
difficult task of selection. When it is considered that 
the affair was the first of its kind in the National 
Capital, and was merely suggested as one form of 
rational enjoyment, its successful execution occasioned 
deserved felicitation, and when it is repeated next year, 
as it will be, the national holiday will be made literally 
a day of delight. 

The real value, however, of the experiment in the 
National Capital still remains to be recorded. Instead 
of a long list of dead and injured, there was not a 
single gunpowder accident in the city, and the two 
minor alarms of fire were not occasioned by explosives. 
The contrast between the recent Fourth of July cele- 
bration and those of previous years, is strikingly shown 
in the following figures : 



THE NEW FOURTH 291 

Number of persons treated at local hospitals for injuries 
from explosives : 

July 4, July 5, 

HOSPITAL. •' •'„ J J ^^ 

1908. 1909. 

Emergency 25 

Casualty 6 o 

Freedmen's 5 o 

Georgetown 10 O 

Providence o O 

Homeopathic 52 O 

Children's 2 o 

Totals 104 o 

Before the Fourth there was some division of opin- 
ion as to the outcome; after the Fourth the public 
sentiment was practically unanimous as to the human- 
ity and wisdom of a safe and sane celebration. This 
sentiment found editorial expression in the daily news- 
papers, and those communities which are considering 
the advisability of abolishing the dangerous customs 
of the past, might with great profit read these com- 
ments. ' They are here incorporated almost in their 
entirety : 

Washington Herald: 

Having celebrated the Fourth of July in a safe and 
sane manner, it is reasonably sure that Washington will 
not hereafter entertain the thought of going back to the 
stereotyped, unsafe, and insane way of observing the an- 
niversary of the country's independence. It is true that 
the day, for the most part, was so quiet as to be almost 
Sabbathlike; but, thanks to an ideally delightful spell of 
weather, every hour, from dawn until the night festivities 
concluded, was full of wholesome enjoyment. A welcome 



292 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

relief it was, indeed, to be spared the affliction of the ear- 
splitting firecracker and toy cannon nuisance and kindred 
evils that made other Fourths so hideous. And a more 
welcome relief still is the knowledge to-day that Wash- 
ington, at least, has not a long hospital list of maimed and 
suffering victims of the reckless use of explosives. 

Washington Times: 

On the day following the Fourth, it will be difficult to 
find many people who will not give their approval to the 
innovation. Nobody's home was burned up, nobody suc- 
ceeded in killing himself or his neighbor; there are no 
incipient cases of lockjaw under observation. The tend- 
ency to those other forms of disorder which grow out of 
indulgence in the cup that cheers — and perhaps deafens 
— was less marked than ever before. The police and the 
hospitals alike had an easy time of it. Not a single acci- 
dent worthy the name, of the distinctive variety which 
has made Independence Day an occasion of carnage and 
terror, took place in Washington. That is a remarkable 
record. 

Safety and sanity, in short, vindicated themselves to 
perfection. Promiscuous noise was simply impossible 
because of the strict prohibition of the sale and use of 
fireworks and other abominations in the racket-making 
line. Altogether, it was a glorious day, and it is sincerely 
to be hoped that it will come in similar fashion once per 
annum, and in time lead people to a cheerful ability hon- 
estly to rejoice that their country did attain its freedom. 

Papers in unsafe and insane communities please copy. 

Washington Star: 

After yesterday's experience it is doubtful whether 
Washington will ever return to the old customs of Inde- 
pendence Day celebrations. The " safe and sane " Fourth 
idea was carried out in a manner to please practically 



THE NEW FOURTH 293 

the entire community, to give some form of entertainment 
to the greatest possible number throughout the day, with- 
out contributing a single accident of any kind to the rec- 
ords. 

Taken in detail, yesterday's celebration features were 
calculated to please all classes. For those who wished to 
dwell seriously upon the patriotic aspect of the occasion 
there was the open-air meeting, whore exercises appro- 
priate to the day were held. For the children there was 
no lack of amusement, with the daylight fireworks divert- 
ing them on three different occasions. The floral auto- 
mobile parade was a novelty that drew large numbers to 
the line, while the day was appropriately closed with an 
exceptional exhibition of fireworks, concluding with the 
illumination of Pennsylvania Avenue. 

An ideal day in overhead conditions, yesterday afforded 
the best opportunity to try the new idea of Independence 
Day celebration. In consequence of all the arrangements 
and restrictions there was a remarkable lack of noise 
from morning till night. There were no fires and the hos- 
pital ambulance was less busy even than on ordinary 
occasions. The policemen had an easy time, being occu- 
pied chiefly in preserving lines at the various points of 
congregation. There was a noteworthy lack of public 
intoxication. In short, Washington demonstrated that it 
can enjoy itself in a dignified, decent manner. 

With the experience of yesterday in mind, the authori- 
ties and citizens who engage in such enterprises can pro- 
ceed next year to organize an Independence Day celebra- 
tion that will be even better. It has been proved that it 
is possible to stop the promiscuous discharge of firecrack- 
ers and other forms of explosives. This is in itself an 
immense advantage. There is no reason to doubt the 
ability of the Commissioners to maintain order in the 
same manner next year. It may be' suggested that the 
1910 programme should include more public music of a 
patriotic character at intervals during the day and that 



294 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

the chief feature of the occasion be some form of historic 
pageant. 

In the face of this splendid and sensible record, it is 
appalling to read the reports from other cities. The 
death of Arthur Granville Langham, uncle of the 
Baroness von Sternberg, which occurred in Louisville, 
as the result of the explosion of a cannon cracker, was 
especially tragic, but the occurrences in other munici- 
palities are none the less sad because the victims were 
not as prominent in social and financial circles. Here 
are some of the figures : 

New York. Five killed, 197 injured by fireworks, 82 
injured by pistols, 23 injured by cannons and 3 injured 
by torpedoes; also, 116 fires started by explosives. Not- 
withstanding this list of victims, one of the most prom- 
inent New York papers remarked that New York had 
broken all records for a safe and sane Fourth of July. 

Philadelphia. Five dead, 3 fatally injured, 8 seriously 
injured and 420 painfully injured; 80 fires. 

St. Louis. Four dead, 205 injured. 

WiLKESBARRE, Pa. Four dead. 

Pittsburg. One dead, 295 injured; fire loss, $50,000. 

Memphis, Tenn. A crippled newsboy burned to death. 

Wheeling, W. Va. One dead, 50 injured. 

Buffalo. Fifteen children injured, 40 fires. 

Boston. One hundred and ten persons injured. 

Toledo. Boy's left hand necessarily amputated and a 
fifteen-year-old boy blinded for life. 

Kansas City. One death from lockjaw. 

Elmira, N. Y. Two deaths from lockjaw. 

WooNSOCKET, R. I. One dead and a dozen persons in- 
jured. 

Other cities, without regard to section, afiford a pain- 
ful repetition of casualty. It seems strange that this 



THE NEW FOURTH 295 

annual holocaust should be tolerated. There is not a 
civilized country in the world which pays such a fear- 
ful debt to alleged patriotism as the United States. 
There is no question as to the devotion of the Japanese 
to their country, and yet their three national holidays 
are not marred by sad fatalities. Germany celebrates 
the Emperor's birthday with the greatest enthusiasm, 
but without wholesale death and injury. France is 
patriotic, and yet France observes its festal days in a 
safe and sane fashion. In the City of Mexico, as the 
writer knows by personal experience, the celebration 
of Independence Day is a great popular success, and 
yet not one firecracker is exploded. The experiment 
in Washington demonstrates that dynamite and gun- 
powder are not essential to a thorough and patriotic 
enjoyment of the day. Surely the time will come 
when other cities will appreciate the importance of 
celebrating in some manner which will appropriately 
mark the day, and yet not leave a sanguinary trail of 
dead and wounded. 

It goes without saying that the safe and sane method 
will not be departed from in the National Capital. In 
that city, at least, there will be an example of common 
sense which other municipalities might well emulate. 
There will be ample opportunity for the expression of 
patriotic sentiment, unaccompanied by death and dis- 
aster, and in less than a decade the people will look 
back to the ancient and barbarous customs, and won- 
der how they were ever tolerated for a single hour. 
Next year new methods of entertainment will be de- 
vised, and more consideration will be given to the 
children. This year the pupils of the public schools 
sang patriotic songs at the various gatherings, and the 
children enjoyed the automobile parade and the fire- 



296 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

works. The Fourth of July, however, is essentially 
Young America's day, and in any programme ar- 
ranged by a municipality especial consideration should 
be given to the little ones. With this detail not over- 
looked, there will be no question of the real success 
of any Fourth of July celebration. Certainly the ex- 
periment which the National Capital has successfully 
inaugurated has proven worth while ; and if the ex- 
ample is generally followed by other cities, there will 
be safety and sanity everywhere, nor need the splen- 
did fervency of our full-blooded patriotism suffer loss. 



THE NEW INDEPENDENCE DAY 

BY HENRY B. F. MACFARLAND AND RICHARD B. WATROUS 
(As Observed at Washington, D. C, 1909.) 

The programme for the day provided for a display 
of daylight fireworks at 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue, 
a central point with park surrovmdings and no nearby 
residences, from 9:30 until 10:30 in the morning; 
then the public meeting at the same place, surround- 
ing the new memorial of the Grand Army of the 
Republic and its founder. Dr. Stephenson, where 
Senator Owen, of Oklahoma, made an oration, the 
Declaration of Independence was read, the " Star 
Spangled Banner " and " My Country, 'Tis of Thee " 
were sung, and the school children sang other patriotic 
songs, and the United States Marine Band volunteered 
and gave music. After this there was another dis- 
play of daylight fireworks. At least 5,000 people, 
chiefly in family groups, attended the meeting and 



THE NEW FOURTH 297 

saw these fireworks exhibitions, and the children were 
delighted with the shows new to Washington. At 
half past two in the afternoon on the great ellipse 
south of the White House, at least 10,000 men, women 
and children listened to a band concert and watched 
another hour's exhibition of the daylight fireworks, 
the grown-ups enjoying, as much as the children, the 
flags, balloons, paper animals, birds and fishes, lib- 
erated by the bombs high in air. Later in the after- 
noon a fine parade of automobiles decorated with 
flags and flowers, and arranged by the Washington 
Post, and for which it gave most of the prizes, 
passed up and down Pennsylvania Avenue, crowded by 
spectators, and around the Capitol and White House 
and down to Potomac Park where the judges awarded 
the prizes. In the evening there was an elaborate 
display of fireworks on the ellipse south of the White 
House, followed by a beautiful illumination of Penn- 
sylvania Avenue. The newspapers estimated that be- 
tween 40,000 and 50,000 people saw these night ex- 
hibitions. Never was there a more cheerful or good- 
tempered crowd. Apparently the young and old 
thoroughly enjoyed the whole day which had a picnic 
character for most of them. Several of the suburban 
communities organized their own fireworks exhibitions 
and some had public meetings as well. 

The experience of the day suggested additions and 
improvements for the celebration of the next Inde- 
pendence Day. Historical pageants, a regatta, more 
field sports, more band concerts, and a wider dis- 
tribution of the celebration points are among the 
things suggested for next year. The Joint Commit- 
tee on Arrangements has already taken steps to pro- 



298 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

vide a permanent organization to prepare for future 
celebrations, the Commissioners having announced at 
once that there will be no repeal or amendment of 
the regulation prohibiting the old barbaric methods 
of celebrating the day. The new order of things met 
the approval of President Taft who, upon being told 
by the Chairman of the Joint Committee, the plans 
for the celebration, wrote the following letter, which 
was read at the public meeting: 

The White House, Washington, July 3, 1909. 
My Dear Mr. Macfarland: 

I have your letter of July ist with respect to the cele- 
bration of the Fourth of July. I am very sorry that I 
shall not be in the city on that day because of a previous 
engagement ; but I am heartily in sympathy with the 
movement to rid the celebration of our country's natal 
day of those distressing accidents that might be avoided 
and are merely due to a recklessness against which the 
public protest cannot be too emphatic. 
Very sincerely yours, 

(Signed) Wm. H. Taft. 

Hon. Henry B. F. Macfarland, 

Commissioner of the District of Columbia. 

This letter, sent out by the Press Association with 
a brief account of the celebration, must have helped 
the cause of the " safe and sane " celebration of In- 
dependence Day everywhere. 



THE NEW FOURTH 299 
NEW FOURTHS FOR OLD 

BY MRS. ISAAC L. RICE 

" When you are past shrieking, having no human articulate 
voice to say you are glad with, you fill the quietude . . . 
with gunpowder blasts, and rush home, red with cutaneous 
eruption of conceit and voluble with convulsive hiccough of 
self-satisfaction. ... It is pitiful to have dim concep- 
tions of duty; more pitiful, it seems to me, to have concep- 
tions like these of mirth." — John Ruskin. 

When the preparations for the celebration of a great 
anniversary are identical with those for a battle, it 
is time to pause and reflect whether a better observance 
of the day might not be advisable — to ask ourselves 
whether one might not be planned which would honor 
and not dishonor a glorious memory. 

When Physicians, Boards of Health and Hospital 
Superintendents annually prepare for the reception 
and treatment of hundreds, or rather thousands, who 
will — before the close of the day — be brought in 
torn, burned, blinded ; when undertakers prepare for 
the hideous aftermath of our National Birthday ; 
when hundreds of thousands of the sick look forward 
with dread to the recurrence of this season of noise, 
which to them brings so much distress ; when fathers 
and mothers all over the country shudder at the 
thought of what the Fourth may bring to their dear 
ones, I believe that one is justified in characterizing 
as a national disgrace that pseudo-patriotism which is 
responsible for so much agony. 

It is impossible to exaggerate the stigma of shame 
incurred by the intelligent, adult proportion of the 
population in deliberately and scientifically prepar- 



300 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

ing for the massacre and maiming of the youthful, 
ignorant and heedless members of the community. 
One city, for instance, added twenty-six surgeons to 
its ambulance corps, while another engaged twelve dis- 
tributors of tetanus antitoxin, had field dressing 
stations prepared by its National Volunteer Emergency 
Service and sent around fifteen hundred vials of anti- 
toxin serum to its hospitals. And thus many cities 
anticipated the return of their Day of Carnage, pre- 
paring to bind wounds and lacking the courage re- 
quired to insist on the passage of drastic prohibitive 
ordinances which would have rendered impossible the 
shedding of blood. 

I am sure that the thanks of all are due to one of 
our medical publications which, for years past, has 
compiled statistics upon statistics, based upon the price 
that we pay for our present-day mad celebration of 
the Fourth, for without the splendid work of the 
Journal of the American Medical Association we 
should be unable to estimate the cost of our annual 
holiday. As for the figures, so laboriously compiled, 
they are simply amazing. To think of fifteen hundred 
and thirty-one deaths and thirty-three thousand and 
seventy-three accidents, the fearful sacrifice voluntarily 
offered by us, within the last seven years, to our false 
ideals ! And yet these tables, shocking as they are, 
give so inadequate an idea of the suffering involved ! 
For of these fifteen hundred and thirty-one deaths, 
practically none came painlessly, almost all being ac- 
companied by the convulsions of tetanus, the torments 
of fire, or the shock of injuries which changed healthy, 
happy children into shapeless, agonizing horrors. 
While as for the thirty-three thousand and seventy- 
three who were injured, but not fatally, how many are 



THE NEW FOURTH 301 

dragging out their wretched Hves, hhnd, maimed or 
crippled ! 

What, perhaps, is the saddest feature, is the fact 
that almost all the victims of the Fourth are children, 
whose youth and ignorance and inexperience and help- 
lessness would certainly seem to merit all due pro- 
tection at our hands. Poor little ones, who play de- 
lightedly with danger ! And then how many among 
the victims of the Fourth are those who have not 
been " celebrating," but who have been shot down 
or burnt to death by the wanton recklessness of In- 
dependence Day "Patriots" (God save the mark!). 
Bullets, cannon-crackers, blank cartridges, and strings 
of Chinese crackers spare none. Little babes have 
had their heads torn open, mothers have been killed 
as they sat beside their children, scores of girls have 
been burnt to death by having lighted firecrackers 
or fireworks thrown in their direction. Runaways 
have been frequent because hoodlums love to throw 
great " bombs " under frightened teams, and one of 
the merriest sports has been to place large torpedoes 
on car-tracks. In Vincennes (Indiana), for instance, 
one Fourth was " celebrated " by placing boxes of ex- 
plosives on the tracks, by means of which car win- 
dows were shattered, passengers terrified and injured, 
and traffic blocked for hours ; after these boxes had 
all been picked up it was found that two barrels of 
explosives had been collected. In Boston, only two 
years ago, seventy arrests were made for using fire- 
arms, while in Pittsburg a party of rich, young hood- 
lums terrorized the holiday crowds by dashing along 
in an automobile, firing volleys of shots up and down 
the streets and into the shops. Pittsburg's arrests July 
4, 1907, numbered 300. But, then, what can we ex- 



302 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

pect when we repeal for a period of twenty-four hours 
almost all laws regarding safety and sanity? 

As for the licensed recklessness, responsible for so 
many accidents, the recital of some of the mad acts to 
which it has led in the past is simply incredible. Some 
of these acts were : the throwing of dynamite bombs 
and giant crackers and the firing of revolvers into holi- 
day crowds, the tossing of lighted firecrackers into the 
laps, or against the thin clothing, of women and girls, 
resulting in their being roasted to death ; the filling of 
pipes and tin cans with dynamite, or the stuffing of bot- 
tles with lighted firecrackers — all with inevitable con- 
sequences. These are but a few of the acts which 
caused these 33,073 accidents, but the excuse for all 
was always the same — Patriotism! If this, how- 
ever, is Patriotism, then it recalls — with but a slight 
variation as to meaning — that utterance of Dr. John- 
son's : " Patriotism which is the last refuge of the 
scoundrel." However, it is not Patriotism, but only 
craving for noise and excitement and danger which 
kills and blinds and maims on our Day of Carnage. 
Some, indeed, go so far as to declare that the usual 
celebration of the Fourth is " due to desire to break 
loose into a day of savagery and wallow in the un- 
usual." Perhaps, if a stop is not soon put to this mad 
orgy, we shall find ourselves changing the words of 
our National Anthem, as suggested by one of our 
dailies, and singing: 

" My country, 'Tis of Thee, 
. For Thou hast Crippled Me." 

However, it is not Patriotism but Hoodlumism and 
the desire to revel in a dav from which all sane and 



THE NEW FOURTH 303 

safe restrictions have been removed, which may be 
said to guide most of the celebrants on the Fourth, 
for most of them are undoubtedly ignorant of its 
glorious significance. That this is true was amusingly 
shown in one of our large eastern cities where be- 
tween thirty and forty thousand children were asked 
in the public schools why they celebrated the Fourth 
of July. The favorite answer was said to have been 
" For shoots," others were : " For a band," " For 
chicken to eat," and most astounding of all " For the 
King of the Jews " (the similarity of sound between 
Jew and July doubtless suggesting the last). 

The duration of our " noise-fest " varies in different 
localities, in some being limited to a few hours, in 
others being permitted to extend over several weeks. 
Where this premature celebration is allowed, it natu- 
rally entails great suffering on the sick, not to speak of 
the additional danger incurred by the youthful par- 
ticipants. It is this early start which, doubtless, 
prompted the remark : " The Fourth of July is the 
only holiday which begins before it happens." As for 
the celebration proper, it generally starts on the 
evening of the third and lasts until the morning or 
the afternoon of the fifth. In some cities, however, 
it does not begin until midnight, in others not until 
four o'clock in the morning. However, even where 
the noisy period is the shortest, the suffering borne 
by our hospital patients is sufficient to excite the sym- 
pathy of all those with whom they come in contact. 

Regarding the monetary cost of our celebration. 
New York City is reported to have spent about $14,- 
000,000 on the celebration of two holidays, with a 
resultant loss of 11 persons killed and 768 injured. 
As for the total monetary loss to the whole country. 



304 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

it can scarcely be calculated, nor can the fire-loss be 
estimated. Regarding the latter, however, I have been 
enabled, through the courtesy of Mr. Miller, General 
Agent of the National Board of Fire Underwriters, 
to obtain a few figures which show that during five 
years (from 1898 to 1902 inclusive) there were 
4,827 fires in the United States due to fireworks ; in 
Massachusetts from 1902 to 1906 inclusive there were 
278 fires due to the same cause ; and in Boston in 
one year, 1906, ^2 took place. But quite apart from 
the effect of these conflagrations on our fire-loss 
(which is about nine times as high as that of the chief 
countries of Europe — $3 per capita as against 33 
cents), many accidents might perhaps be traced to 
carelessness engendered in the young by the annually 
repeated spectacle of a whole community playing with 
fire and explosives. I firmly believe that this one 
day of dangerous license exerts a pernicious effect 
upon the other three hundred and sixty- four days of 
the year. 

An example of what an enthusiastically patriotic and 
yet sane and safe holiday observance can be, was 
given last May, when England and her colonies cele- 
brated " Empire Day." This fete was observed by 
tens of millions, scattered over one-fourth of the 
world's surface, and yet not one death was reported 
— not a single accident marred the glory and the 
happiness of the day. In this splendid world-pageant, 
the citizens of to-morrow were the chief actors, and 
it is estimated that fully eight millions took part. Chil- 
dren in long procession, thousands of them in uniform, 
wearing flags on their breasts and carrying them aloft 
in an endless blaze of color, marched along to ren- 
der homage to the Union Jack, which fluttered out 



THE NEW FOURTH 305 

above their heads as the Httle soldiers were reviewed, 
or as they sang the National Anthem. The floral 
emblems of the day was the daisy or, failing that, the 
bachelor's button, marigold or marguerite — the 
watchwords were " Responsibility, duty, sympathy, 
self-sacrifice." In addition to the National Anthem, 
Rudyard Kipling's " Children's Song " was also sung 
by millions of little ones : 

" Lord of our birth, our faith, our pride, 
For whose dear sake our Fathers died, 
O, Motherland, we pledge to thee 
Head, heart and hand through years to be." 

As for France, everybody knows how joyfully it 
enters upon the celebration of its Day of Liberation, 
July 14th. Military reviews, artistically beautiful 
street decoration, free theatrical and operatic perform- 
ances, music, splendid displays of fireworks from 
the bridges, and public dancing in the streets and 
squares, make up a day of happy and sane observance 
— a huge kermess. Perhaps no other country cele- 
brates its birthday with quite the same stern simplicity, 
the same touching faith as Switzerland, when on 
August 1st, no outward manifestation of the national 
thanksgiving is remarked, except in the ringing of 
bells and the blazing of bonfires on the mountain 
peaks, or in the singing of a few inspiring songs. The 
whole nation seems to be listening to the voices of 
the past, while continuing its daily tasks, this sturdy 
band of mountaineers ! And thus with the celebra- 
tions of yet more European countries, Germany, 
Sweden, Denmark and still others, everything is 
marked by sanity and order, and yet by true thanks- 
giving and joy. 



3o6 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

But although the American abroad may well blush 
with shame in comparing our " Horrible Fourth," our 
" Tetanus Day," our " Annual Massacre," our 
" Modern Massacre of Innocents," our " Carnival of 
Lockjaw," our " Bloody Fourth," or our " Day of 
Carnage," with the fete days of other lands, let him 
take courage, for at last it really seems as if " Ex- 
plosive Patriotism " were " on tlie run." Throughout 
the Union, scores of cities have already passed or 
are considering the passage of restrictive or, better 
still, of prohibitive ordinances, and countless organiza- 
tions are getting into line in their efforts to substi- 
tute attractive features, such as children's processions 
and merry-making, pageantry, musical festivals, pic- 
nics, and other safe observances for our present orgy 
of death. In order to show at a glance what has 
already been gained by legislation in preventing 
Fourth of July accidents, let us place side by side 
the results obtained a few months ago in two groups 
of cities. In the first let us put Washington, Cleve- 
land, Baltimore and Toledo, which cities protected by 
prohibitive or restrictive ordinances, gave last Fourth 
of July a total of twelve accidents. The other four. 
New York, Philadelphia, Boston and St. Louis, which 
were all relatively unprotected, gave a total of thirteen 
hundred and ninety-seven accidents, or an average of 
almost three hundred and fifty apiece. Drastic ordi- 
nances and stern enforcement are required if we are 
ever to down our National Disgrace. 

Let us protect our little ones from death and danger, 
and then the next step will be to learn to express 
" social ideals in action," for as Mr. Luther Gulick 
so well says : " If there is any one thing, any one 
occasion, in connection with which there should be 



THE NEW FOURTH 307 

national community expression, it should be in con- 
nection with our celebration of American independ- 
ence. This constitutes not only the pivotal point in 
the history of American institutions, but is the pivotal 
idea upon which democracy rests." 

Nothing is more inspiring than love of country, 
therefore let us advocate a " religion of patriotism " 
and do away with a false death-dealing patriotism 
which, annually, on our National Birthday disgraces 
us in the eyes of the whole civilized world. 



AMERICANIZING THE FOURTH 

(A Suggestion for a Pageant of Liberty.) 
BY ROBERT HAVEN SCHAUFFLER 

The old, undemocratic idea of honoring the birth- 
day of American independence is embodied in annual 
Explosions of barbarism which have already done to 
death many more persons than the Revolutionary 
War destroyed. Indeed, our peaceful celebration 
seems as much more dangerous than the old style 
of warfare as small-pox is more dangerous than 
chicken-pox. 

Our new festival in honor of Liberty is — or is 
soon to be — very different. Instead of a day of 
pseudo-patriotism, — a Moloch-day sacred to blinding 
and maiming our little ones, to shredding and roast- 
ing them alive, blowing them to bits or allowing them 
to struggle to their death in the horrible clutch of 
tetanus — there is proposed a day of the deepest, 
fairest, most enthusiastic, most genuine patriotism ; a 
day of emphasis not upon erratic individualism but 



3o8 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

upon national solidarity ; a day of fun yet of educa- 
tion and inspiration to old as well as young and to 
all the nations that are now being fused in our gigantic 
melting pot. In a word, the new movement aims, as 
it should, to make the Fourth our most profoundly 
American holiday. 

The recent rise of the Independence Day pageant is 
a by-product of two wide twentieth century move- 
ments : the new classicism and the new democracy. 
The new classicism is behind the current tendency of 
certain of the arts to react from the rich, vague 
elaboration of an exaggerated romanticism toward 
plain, clearly organized simplicity. In a word, it is 
trying to restore a normal balance between the emo- 
tional and the intellectual elements in art. In music 
this movement is led by Max Reger, the modern 
Bach ; in architecture it is felt in the Art Nouveau 
and, in America, in such significant buildings as the 
New York Library and the Pennsylvania Terminal ; in 
literature in the recent rebirth of the drama, of which 
the pageant is a near relative. For the pageant has 
been defined as " a dramatic presentation of the his- 
tory of a community or of the development of a phase 
of civilization, given by the people themselves." 

The movement called the new democracy is slightly 
older. Under President Roosevelt this country dis- 
covered a new and more vital meaning in the old 
term " democracy." And it has not taken us long to 
find out that on Independence Day the square deal 
is less thrillingly symbolized by the maiming and 
slaughter of innocent thousands through the meaning- 
less cracker and pistol than by the cooperation of all 
nationalities and social grades on our shores in great, 
concerted movements, large with the meaning of the 



THE NEW FOURTH 309 

past, the present and the future America, and glow- 
ing with the local colors of the many peoples that have 
made and are to make this nation. 

The inevitable medium for such expression is the 
pageant. And though this form of celebration is still 
in its early infancy and has not yet attained even the 
modest measure of clarity already reached in other 
arts by the new classicism, nor even the puny measure 
of real democracy exhibited to-day by our " square 
deal " renaissance, yet it is quite as big with promise 
as they. 

The Pageant of Liberty, which is here proposed, is 
based on the idea that America was the pioneer in 
that modern struggle for liberty which has played such 
a striking part in the world's history since 1776. Our 
War of Independence inspired the French Revolution 
which, in turn, brandished the torch of liberty through 
Europe during the nineteenth century until, in our 
day, the flame has spread to other continents. 

This Pageant consists of a parade of simple floats 
which may or may not end in a dramatic and choral 
performance or " masque " in some athletic field or 
fair ground or stadium. The floats and their cos- 
tumed characters are to be the actors in this masque. 

These floats need not be elaborate or expensive or 
hard to construct. In most cases all that is required 
is a plain large truck, festooned with simple garlands, 
and with the wheels hidden in oak branches. This 
truck carries the necessary characters, dressed, of 
course, in the costume of the period. 

There need be none of those complicated, elaborately 
colored, pyramidal structures of " stafif " which en- 
dangered the success of the Hudson-Fulton Celebra- 
tion in New York City. For they are difficult and 



3IO INDEPENDENCE DAY 

costly to prepare and doubtful of effect. The effect 
sought should be pictorial rather than sculpturesque. 
In many cases a single small platform or table is the 
only " property " required. 

The floats in procession represent the history of the 
modern struggle for liberty. This history, however, 
may be depicted as fully or as sketchily as the par- 
ticular resources of each place suggest, each foreign 
colony in a town working up its own float under cen- 
tral supervision. 

In our day most American cities and towns have 
a large percentage of the foreign born. Let us sup- 
pose, for example, that a certain large town consists 
of the following nine nationalities : Americans, 
French, Irish, Servians, Germans, Greeks, Hun- 
garians, Italians, and Persians. In that case its par- 
ticular pageant would consist of at least ten floats, 
each attended on foot or horseback by its appropriate 
escort of the same race, preferably in national cos- 
tume, and by bands of music playing — perhaps on 
native instruments — those national airs most nearly 
identified with the particular historical event set forth, 

I. The American float will naturally head the 
procession, for precedence in this pageant is fixed by 
the historical order in which the various struggles for 
liberty occurred. 

The American float might represent the Fathers sit- 
ting about a table and signing the Declaration of In- 
dependence, with the Liberty Bell hanging aloft. Or 
it might be boat-shaped, with Washington in the bow, 
crossing the Delaware and tattered soldiers straining 
at the oars or poling away at imaginary ice-cakes. 

The other floats would follow in this order: 

II. France. King Louis XVI is forced to recog- 



THE NEW FOURTH 311 

nize General Lafayette, the commander of the new 
National Guard, on July 17, 1789, and affixes to his 
own royal garments the tricolor cockade of red, blue 
and white, the symbol of liberty. This event occurred 
three days after the storming of the Bastille, a subject 
that would not lend itself well to pictorial treatment. 

HI. Ireland. Some incident from the Rebellion 
of 1798. The float might be in honor of the patriotic 
Society of United Irishmen and of their founder, 
Theobald Wolfe Tone. Or it might represent the 
dramatic betrayal, on May 19, 1798, of Lord Edward 
Fitzgerald, the promised leader of the revolt. 

IV. Servia. Some incident from the splendid re- 
bellion of 1804 when the Serbs, who had been galled 
by the Ottoman yoke for more than four centuries, 
rose and drove the Turkish dahis out of Servia. 
Their two leaders were Black George and IMilosch who 
have been called respectively the Achilles and the 
Ulysses of Servian history. The float might give the 
crucial moment in the decisive battle of Schabaz, with 
Black George leading his men against those pictur- 
esque standard-bearers of the Turkish army, the 
bravest Begs of Bosnia. 

V. Germany. It is not so easy to find a moment 
in the German struggle which is both significant and 
simple enough for our purpose. Perhaps the " Wart- 
burg Festival " would answer. Some historians treat 
this incident in lighter vein, others seriously. But all 
agree that the government reactionaries took it very 
much to heart and at once began a reign of tyranny 
that was largely responsible for the revolutions of 
'30 and of historic '48. At any rate the Festival would 
make a most effective float. This was the way it 
happened. 



312 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

A couple of years after the battle of Waterloo se- 
cret political societies were formed all over Germany 
among the students and the athletes. These were 
called the Bnrschenschaftcn and the Turners. On 
October 17, 1818, several hundred of these young fel- 
lows met at the Wartburg (the ancient castle which 
had sheltered Luther after he had defied the pope and 
the emperor). That evening they gathered about a 
bonfire and fed it with various symbols of despotism 
and with the effigies of reactionary books, while, hard 
by, the Turners did exuberant gymnastic " stunts." 
This float could be made most realistic with a genuine 
bonfire and a couple of Turners in the rear perform- 
ing, perhaps, on a horizontal bar. The decorations 
should be in black, red and yellow, the colors of Ger- 
man liberty. 

VI. Greece. The float might merely show a 
group of the picturesquely costumed leaders of the 
Revolution of 1821. There would be General Koloko- 
trones, Marco Botzaris (the Suliote chieftain immor- 
talized in Fitz-Greene Halleck's poem). Admiral 
Miaoulis, Kanaris of fire-ship fame, Karaiskakis, the 
daring guerilla, and Lord Byron, the poet of revolt, 
who gave his life for the cause, and without whom 
there might have been no Greek independence. 

A more dramatic subject would be found in the 
Greeks' welcome of Byron when he arrived at 
]\Iissolonghi in the fall of 1823. The costumes of this 
float would be particularly effective. 

VII. Hungary. One turns naturally to the events 
of April 14, 1849, when, on Kossuth's motion, the diet 
proclaimed the independence of Hungary. This ought 
to be as practicable as to give the signing of our own 
Declaration. 



THE NEW FOURTH 313 

As an alternative scheme, General Gorgei could be 
shown, surrounded by the evidences of some of his 
victories, such as Szolnok, Isaszeg, Vacz, and 
Nagysarlo, 

Vni. Italy. Italian liberty might well be epito- 
mized in the spectacle of a red-shirted Garibaldi lean- 
ing from the balcony of the Foresteria (the balcony 
could be made out of two packing boxes and a bit of 
railing) and addressing the jubilant Neapolitans on 
Sept. 7, i860, at the close of his conquest of the Two 
Sicilies. 

IX. Persia. This unique float would show a 
handful of the Mujteheds, or higher Mohammedan 
priests, taking refuge, or " bast " before the shrine 
of Shah Abdul Azim near Teheran, as they did in 
1905. The taking of " bast " in some sanctuary or 
other place of protection is an old Persian method 
of political protest. In this case it inaugurated the re- 
cent revolution which won Persia a constitution. 

X. Liberty. The final float would be devoted to 
displaying the charms of the most statuesquely beauti- 
ful young woman in the community, — who would be 
dressed and accoutered rather like the Statue of 
Liberty in New York harbor, only, one hopes, with 
somewhat better taste. 

In this order the procession would parade the prin- 
cipal streets. Then, finally it would march to the 
stadium (or athletic field) for the dramatic part of 
the pageant, if this part were found desirable. 

But before passing to the masque, a few more sug- 
gestions must be offered about the parade. 

The idea already outlined is capable of almost in- 
finite expansion. For most of the immigrant nations 



314 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

in our country have undergone struggles that were 
inspired, directly or indirectly, by 1776. 

Suppose a town wishes to celebrate its next Fourth 
with a Liberty Pageant ; — it has merely to select an 
Independence Day Committee as Springfield did. 
This committee prepares a Hst of the different local 
nationalities, and decides on the most important 
modern struggle for liberty in the history of each, and 
finally, on the characters or events that will most 
simply and effectively epitomize that struggle in float 
form. 

A few picturesque Tyrolese, for instance, could 
make a thrilling picture of the gallant rising of An- 
dreas Hofer in 1809. The Croatians have a spirited 
picture in the 1849 proclamation of their independence 
of Hungary. The Poles would find a spirited subject 
in the rebellion of 1830, which began with a band of 
brave students trying to seize the Grand Duke Con- 
stantine at his palace near Warsaw. Cuba could re- 
call her Declaration of Independence of Oct. 10, 1868, 
or some event of the late war. Spain could have a 
Ferrer float. Norway might remind us of her recent 
bloodless separation from Sweden. Russia, of one 
of the many dramatic incidents in that long, bitter 
fight for liberty whose end is not yet in sight. 

Not alone by increasing the number of participating 
nations is this idea capable of almost endless develop- 
ment, but also by increasing the number of floats for 
each nation. The history of most of the struggles al- 
ready alluded to contains dozens of alluring subjects. 
The number need be limited only by the resources and 
the enthusiasm of the community. 

Behind the national floats international ones might 



THE NEW FOURTH 315 

follow, representing such world-movements as those 
for: 

Religious Liberty 

Freedom of Speech 

Freedom of the Press 

Abolition of Slavery 

Extension of the Elective Franchise 

Popularization of Government 

Destruction of Special Privilege 

Emancipation of Woman 

Abolition of Mob Rule 

Abolition of Child Labor 

Etc., etc. 

So much, then, for the possibilities of expanding the 
idea. On the other hand it is capable of just as ex- 
treme contraction and simplification for use in the 
smaller, less wealthy communities. 

By taking a little more care in costuming the 
marching escorts an effective pageant could be ar- 
ranged with only five or six floats. 

Indeed, it is not absolutely essential to have floats 
at all. Nearly all of the situations suggested above 
could be adequately represented by appropriately cos- 
tumed groups on foot ; and there would even be this 
positive advantage, that leaders like Garibaldi and 
Kolokotrones and Black George might appear at the 
head of a more realistically adequate body of troops 
than could be assembled upon a float. 

According to this plan the various foes of liberty 
might also appear in force, and sham battles could be 
fought in various outskirts of town earlier in the day 
(let us hope, with noiseless as well as smokeless 
arms!) before the various units unite in procession. 



3i6 INDEPENDENCE DAY 

If the parade is combined with the performance of 
a specially written masque, the combination would ob- 
viate many of the usual objections to the ordinary 
" safe and sane " Fourth. The masque would pro- 
vide a most desirable dramatic and educative element. 
And, by charging a small admission fee, this perform- 
ance would ordinarily pay the entire expense of the 
celebration, including the expense of engaging a com- 
petent pageant master. Now a pay performance with- 
out the free parade might, under the circumstances, 
be considered an undemocratic way of celebrating 
what should be our most democratic holiday. But in 
combination with a free parade the admission fee 
would be unobjectionable, and the masque would, more 
than anything else, stimulate that deep, thoughtful 
patriotism whose lack to-day is as grave a defect in 
our barbarous Fourth as its cruelty. 

The idea of the masque has as yet been worked out 
only tentatively. Its development is the business of 
a dramatic poet. Roughly speaking it would proceed 
somewhat as follows. 

When the procession arrives at the stadium the floats 
would enter in their historical order, each accompanied 
however, by only the small, specially trained nucleus 
of its marching escort. The floats would circle the 
inclosure once or twice, and then divide into two files, 
forming a lane of honor through which the Liberty 
float would move slowly and take up a position in the 
center of the inclosure. 

Its escort would then sing a chorus which ought to 
be as eloquent and beautiful and suggestive an exposi- 
tion of the nature of abstract liberty as Swinburne's 
" Hertha " is of the soul. 

When this is finished the Americans would ap- 



THE NEW FOURTH 317 

proach this central figure of Liberty and recount, with 
music and dramatic action, perhaps, their struggle in 
her honor, ending with America sung with full chorus 
and band. Then the Americans would take up their 
position in the secondary place of honor opposite. 

Hereupon, keeping to their historic order, each 
nation would advance and after greeting the Ameri- 
can float as the pioneer of liberty, would approach 
the goddess and briefly recite their deeds in her be- 
half, each particularly emphasizing the unique quali- 
ties which it brought to its own struggle, and which it 
is ready (by application) to bring to any further strug- 
gles in the same general cause. 

These national recitals might be managed in various 
ways. Dependent upon the size of the stadium and 
the available creative talent among the organizers, 
they might be spoken or sung, solo or in chorus, in 
prose or verse, or both. Of course it is desirable 
that the masque should be composed entirely by the 
best poet and set to music by the most inspired com- 
poser obtainable. But it Is quite conceivable that 
local amateurs might rise to very satisfactory heights 
in an emergency. 

Even in case of rain it might still be possible for 
the leading characters to present this masque upon the 
stage of the largest local theater concert hall. 

After each nation has separately recounted its 
prowess, and all are grouped effectively around the 
central figure, Liberty reminds them that though they 
have done heroic deeds in the past, much remains to 
accomplish in the present, even in this land of the free. 
She then proceeds to describe what foes still menace 
our real freedom in America, such foes as special 
privilege, mob rule, political corruption, white slavery, 



3i8 INDEPENDENCE DAY, 

treatment of the feeble-minded as common criminals, 
a capitalistic press, and so on. 

Then in the final grand chorus the united nations 
would join together in proclaiming that, strengthened 
by their separate struggles overseas, they here and 
now unite their efforts to make this land, in deed as 
in name, the land of liberty. 

Could anything make more swiftly and surely for 
national solidarity than in some such way to stimulate 
each national element in our forming civilization to 
bring the best it has to the service of the future 
America? And what more patriotic and fitting deed 
could be accomplished than to transform the birth- 
day of modern liberty from a day of meaningless 
destruction into a day of construction fraught with 
profound and beautiful significance? 



THE END 



